


Kindred Brothers

by AndrewJohnston



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Brotherhood, Friendship, Gen, Kindred Brothers, Prophecy, Riddles, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-05-07 05:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 71,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14663859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndrewJohnston/pseuds/AndrewJohnston
Summary: Hiccup is in trouble; He is excelling at Dragon training and the chances that he will be chosen to fight the Nightmare is high. But with having his best friend from the same species he ought to kill, what should he do? He goes to Gothi for answers, who just gives him a riddle: {Almond eyes, full of spark, a marshmallow dream. 1000 years, almost there, your kin brother's here.}





	1. Here and There

**Year 1032, Faroe Islands, Berk**

Hiccup was in a tight situation. He could best describe it with the past tense of that dreaded swear word that starts with an _f_ and ends with _ucked._

In a short summary; He lives on an island, inhabited by vikings (he is one too, or so he has been told), whose most important tradition is killing the local 'pests', dragons. And Hiccup, with all the grace he could muster, managed to not only _not_ do that, but its complete opposite: He befriended a dragon. In all honesty, Hiccup is neither surprised or regretful of this development. Out of all the vikings, of course it had to be him who would do something as scandalous and unheard of as this. But if he were honest, he has never been happier in his life, thanks to Toothless, his dragon. If breaking traditions is the only way he could be happy, than he will do just _that_.

The problem started when his dad and Hiccup made an agreement. (Who's he kidding, he was forced into a deal in a very one-sided conversation.) This agreement said that Stoick, his father, will grant Hiccup his (ex)life wish of joining Dragon Training to prove that he is a worthy Viking. At first Hiccup was having a… shaky performance, but after getting to know the dragons real-self, he decided that he wouldn't kill a dragon and get to know them better. But he still had to attend the Training if he wanted to keep up the façade and not make others start questioning him. Plus, it was an excellent opportunity to try the things he learnt about dragons (via Toothless) on different species as well, especially if these 'skills' can save Hiccup's, other people's or the dragons' life.

That did mean that his performance picked up, and started to even overtake Astrid, who seemed to find a newly born hate towards the scrawny boy. He was still not dead, so he was either incredibly lucky or Astrid is still planning to assassinate him. Point is, the day when the Elders choose one of the students to showcase their dragon killing skills _in front of the entire village_ is getting closer and closer, and chances that Hiccup will be the one are high (89.54% to be exact, props to Fishlegs).

So now, as Hiccup was walking through one part of the village alone, he was contemplating on what he should do. He was a smart and creative boy, but this problem turned out to be tougher than what he was used to. He couldn't ask for help from anyone really, since they would either not believe him or banish him from the island with Toothless's head tied to him. If he kept silent and played it cool, he still had to kill the Monstrous Nightmare in front of everyone, which he just couldn't do. If he did, he would betray Toothless, and the guilt would eat him even if the dragon somehow forgave him. Running away was an option too, but Hiccup was uncertain of his skills to survive in the wilderness with the entirety of Berk searching for him. Still, if worst comes to worst, he would have no choice but to leave the island. But could he really survive?

Hiccup groaned and pulled his auburn hair as he got into yet another dead-end. There was literally no solution for this problem, and he was running out of time and patience. What should he do? He didn't want to run away, but he didn't want to kill a dragon either, but he has to if he doesn't do anything. But what? He couldn't ask for help, and the only one who he knew would help in any other scenario was a dragon _who couldn't talk._

In his inner war, he didn't notice that he almost bumped into somebody. He would have done so, but this somebody was Gothi, who noticed him and the last moment and stopped the boy with her walking stick-slash-wand thing. Hiccup's eyes widened in surprise momentarily, but then he opted a sheepish expression and chuckled nervously.

''I'm sorry, Elder Gothi." apologized Hiccup nervously, getting a raised eyebrow from the mute woman. After a moment of awkward silence, Gothi smiled and nodded, signaling that all was forgiven. Hiccup smiled too and they went on their separate ways.

…That is, until Hiccup froze when a thought hit him. If there was anyone who would believe him and maybe help him, it was Gothi. She was a mysterious woman, no one knew anything about her except that she was expert at healing and probably had powers. In other words, a witch, but she could speak to the gods so she was a kind of priest too, which gained her an immense amount of respect instead of a burning at a stake.

It was a long shot, but he had no other choice. Hiccup turned around, but couldn't see the elder anymore. Now that he thinks about it, Elder Gothi never leaves his own little hut. What was she doing outside, walking in the middle of the village?

Shrugging, he changed his course towards the elders hut, silently praying to Odin for this to work.

As he finally managed to climb the long stairs towards the Elder's home, he waited for his panting to cease and took a deep breath. This is it. It will either work or he just dug his own grave (which to be honest wouldn't be that surprising). He hesitantly raised his hand and knocked on the door twice. He heard absolutely nothing before the door slowly opened, revealing the short form of Gothi.

''Erm, sorry for bothering you, Elder Gothi, but can we talk for a second?" asked Hiccup, trying too hard to be casual. Gothi raised a questioning eyebrow but nodded nonetheless. Hiccup sighed in relief as he entered her hut.

It was rare to see Gothi's living place from the inside. Only the sick and the wounded had a chance to witness it, and for most of the time they were unconscious or being too indulged in healing themself. The whole place was full with books, shaman like totems, decorations and little potions, each having a different thing in them. Some had herbs and mushrooms inside, some had different coloured liquids in them, while some were completely empty. Hiccup didn't really know where she got her resupply as she never left her hut, but he had more important things to dwell on now.

''So, I came to you for… maybe a little advice that could help me with my problem." admitted Hiccup, getting an understanding nod from the Elder. She went over to her shelves, took out a bucket full of sand and poured it in front of Hiccup. Since she was mute, she couldn't communicate verbally so she had to use an alternative solution. Her solution was writing her say in the sand. Where she got sand was another mystery for Hiccup, as sand wasn't common up north where they lived.

Gothi knocked her staff twice on the ground, urging Hiccup to start. Said boy mentally prepped himself and started talking. He told her about how he shot down a Night Fury, which he later had the chance of killing, but decided against it and freed the dragon. Instead of being angry, Gothi seemed intrigued which did wonders in giving a confidence boost to Hiccup, who continued his story. He told her about how he discovered Toothless's missing tail fin and how he made a new one, which was rewarded by a smile from the Elder. Hiccup also told her how he 'trained' Toothless and helped him get back in the sky again while continuously emphasizing that dragons 'are not what we think they are'. Gothi nodded and Hiccup told her about his doubts and concerns about his current situation as a final part. The elder woman seemed symphatetic but didn't cut the boy off.

''…so that's why I decided to come to you for an advice since I'm completely lost." ended Hiccup, his voice hopeful yet somewhat defeated. Gothi scratched her chin in thought and went to the other side of her hut, where Hiccup noticed a small shrine-looking area. The boy guessed that that's where she supposedly communicated with the Gods as she was about to do now too. The elder woman stood before the shrine and closed her eyes as she started knocking her staff continuously on the ground with a steady rhythm. Hiccup was confused but decided against commenting and watched the elder perform her 'ritual'.

Soon, she was finished and turned around with an uncharacteristic broad smile on her face. She seemed almost excited. She walked back before the sand and started rapidly make runes in front of Hiccup. The boy concentrated on reading them, he was one of the few who could actually read runes. Gobber has taught him through the years of his apprenticeship.

Considering the length of the message, the Elder finished quickly and stepped back as Hiccup started reading the runes out loud;

_Almond eyes,_

_full of spark,_

_a marshmallow dream._

_1000 years,_

_almost there,_

_your kin brother's here._

_The answer,_

_That you oh-so desire_

_lies within a boy full of fire._

_Time's ticking_

_But he'll be there_

_and no one will break a friendship this rare._

Hiccup read the riddle once, twice, thrice, but he couldn't completely understand.

''So… what you are saying is there will be another boy who will help me?" asked Hiccup as he uncertainly looked up at the elder. Said Elder gave Hiccup a small paper with a bit of charcoal then pointed to the riddle. Hiccup was annoyed that Gothi avoided answering but he did as he was told; he didn't want to be turned into anything for ungratefulness. Soon he had the riddle copied on his paper which he pocketed in his tunic.

''Erm… thanks Elder Gothi… and y'know, can we keep it a secret? 'Cause I'm really not in the mood for getting banished while seeing my village kill my best friend." said Hiccup sarcastically getting a sincere smile and a nod from Gothi. Hiccup felt relief as he bid adieu to the old woman and left her hut. In his way to the Cove where he was hiding Toothless, he couldn't stop having questions.

Who was this 'boy'?

What did Gothi mean by '1000 years'?

Should Hiccup even take her seriously after avoiding his questions?

Now that he thinks about it, she didn't really gave him a way to solve the problems, she only told him through a riddle that some boy, or his 'kindred brother' will come and help him.

And what in the name of Thor are Almonds and Marshmallows?

* * *

**Year 2032, the USA, San Fransokyo**

Honey Lemon was starting to get concerned.

She was currently watching Hiro working at her chemical lab. This wouldn't have been much of a problem, if the boy genius wasn't glued to her station for half a month now. It would have been better if at least someone knew what the boy was doing, but Hiro has yet to answer any questions. Honey Lemon is the only who has some kind of intel on Hiro's big project since it was _her_ lab in the end and she had to work there too, so she noticed things. Baymax was there too, but the girl didn't know how much a medical robot knew about chemistry.

In all honesty, she was kind of proud. I mean, she never would have guessed that the boy knew his way around chemistry and not just robotics and mechanics…

…

…then she remembered that it is Hiro Hamada we are talking about, and he wasn't called a child prodigy because his smile was cute. What made her really proud was that all too familiar maniac grin plastered on his face as he did his tests on the substances he was working on and he wasn't even hesitant to top it off. Honey needed years to feel comfortable near the more explosive chemical stuff, and this boy was moving like a pro at the age of 14.

As Hiro still haven't noticed her standing not one meter to him, she waited until his hands were far away from the chemicals in order to avoid an accident or mess up Hiro's work. When the boy went over to the nearby sink to wash his hands, Honey decided to pipe in.

''Hiro?"

Her voice made him jump, signaling that he was really oblivious of her presence to this point. He turned around with surprise still evident on his face, but it soon turned into a casual smile with that admittedly (even by Gogo) adorable toothgap.

''Hey, Honey Lemon, do you want to use your lab? I will pack up immediately if that's the case since I was already-'' he was cut off by a GoGo's voice.

''Actually we all came to see you, and we want answers." said the black and purple haired girl as she stepped next to Honey with her cool but still expectant look. Soon Freddie and Wasabi joined in as well, the latter having his school mascot costume on. Both looked just as interested as their friends.

Hiro, seeing his friends (rightful) curiosity, sighed and went back to his project while mumbling something similar to 'might as well'.

Instead of doing some spectacular chemical reaction that would make them gape at him, he proposed two small rods of wood. He held them in both hands for all to see.

''Hiro…" sighed Honey Lemon as she tried to find the words that wouldn't offend the boy. Gogo seemed to be in an impatient mood and after raising a questioning eye-brow and popping her bubblegum, she spoke up.

''That's two pieces of wood. What's the big deal with them?" deadpanned the girl, making Wasabi and Honey wince. In the mean time, Fred seemed to be actually excited by the rods of wood and already started mumbling about all the possibilities those pieces could do. Wasabi could swear he just heard 'alien invasion' along the lines.

Hiro casually leaned on the table and started playing with both rods in his hands. What caught everyone's attention was that cocky grin on his face, like he knew something they didn't. Which, let's be honest, was probably the case, since no one had any clue whatsoever.

''You are right GoGo. And what do we know about wood?" asked Hiro nonchalantly. He stole a glance at Baymax, who was silently watching Hiro work for the past couple of hours. Said robot knew that it was his cue, raised his matter-of-fact finger and spoke:

''Wood, or lumber in an other name, is gathered from different species of the perennial plant: the tree. Wood is one of the most common building materials next to iron, steel and concrete. Advantages include: lightness, easy ways of cutting, crafting or bending. Disadvantages include: extremely easy to cause damage to and extreme flammability-'' then he abrutly stopped mid sentence, but his fact-stating finger was still up. When he stopped, Hiro's smile broadened.

''Could you repeat the last part, please?" asked Hiro as he pushed himself away from the table and picked up a lighted candle.

''Extremely flammable." repeated Baymax, finally putting down his finger as he blinked at the confused gang.

''You actually downloaded plant-husbandry to a robot made for medical purposes?" asked Wasabi in the same incredulous and disbelieving tone that he used when he first saw Fred's actual room and where he lived.

''I have been observing Hiro's work and emotional state for the past weeks, and upon inquiring about his constant increase in his serotonin, dopamine and adrenaline levels, he told me about his work and I found it to be useful to store these information in my databanks. I seemed to have made the right decision." answered Baymax, one could swear that it was proudness in his monotone voice they heard.

''Thank you buddy." said Hiro as he put one of the rods into the candlelight. To no one's surprise, the wood caught fire immediately.

''As you can see, this regular stick wasn't that persistent against fire." told Hiro, showing up the black burn mark and the smoke coming from the end of the rod.

''Now watch this." and with that, he put the other rod into the fire, and much to everyone's shock, it didn't catch it. Not only that, but after holding it there for ten second, there were no burn marks and Hiro even touched the end of the wood like it wasn't just put through literal fire.

Even Honey Lemon couldn't find an explanation for such phenomena as she, Wasabi and Fred gaped at the reaction, while GoGo raised an inquiring eyebrow.

''As you can see, this piece of wood completely resisted the effect of the fire. And here is the trick." presented Hiro as he put the fireproof wood and the candle down and picked up a small vial with a blue liquid in it.

''A perfume?" asked GoGo as she walked towards Hiro's extended hand and looked at the vial closely. It looked like coloured water to be honest.

''Works the same way, actually. It's still not completely perfect, I have to look through it's molecule structure once more. It still needs to be unnoticeable if applied, this means you shouldn't be able to feel it on your skin, smell it or see it. Then there is the fact that it would intervene if the the material you apply it on gets in a second chemical reaction with a third material." listed off Hiro while he picking up his notebook and started writing new ideas. Meanwhile GoGo passed the vial to Honey Lemon, who looked at it like it was the most exciting thing in the world.

''What's in it exactly?" asked Wasabi as him, Fred leaned in to get a better look at the vial.

''Mostly Helium and Neon with some adjustments. Both are the most fireproof materials on earth and only the heat of the sun's core can burn them. The liquid completely coats anything that it's being applied to, making sure not to leave a single patch. And since I don't think anyone is planning to throw anything into the sun, this Helium and Neon based structure will do." shrugged Hiro without looking up from his notebook.

''Wait, Neon and Helium? So this goo glows in the dark and if I drink it, my voice will become funny?" asked Fred, temptation on his face.

''Yes and I don't know. I still yet to try it on people, or any living creature for that matter, so it very well could be poisionous for all I know. It's still in the experimental phase, but I got the gist of it, I think." admitted Hiro sheepishly.

''In other words, don't drink it man." said Wasabi as he snatched the vial from the pouting school mascot's hand and put it on the nearest table.

GoGo ruffled Hiro's messy dark hair with a proud smile on her lips.

''Not bad kid, this could be helpful to people." said GoGo, making Hiro's face light up in excitement.

''Yes! That's the point! If we could apply the perfected version to everything and everyone, there will be no more fire accidents!" exclaimed Hiro while digging his hand into his messy hair and smiling broadly. This was a signature move of his that he only did when he was really exasperated or on the contrary, excited.

''My censors indicate that Hiro's neurotransmitter levels had radically increased. His serotonin levels are especially high, a level I have yet to document. I believe that sharing his idea and process with his loved ones helped his emotional state." explained Baymax as he presented what he was talking about on his 'belly'.

Sadly, no one was paying attention to the robot as slowly everyone realized something. Hiro wasn't just doing it because he didn't want to have more fire accidents or arsons. He genuinely wanted nobody else to go through what he did when Tadashi died.

The four teenagers walked up to their smallest friend and gave him a big group hug. Hiro seemed surprised and a bit weirded out at first, but he soon let out a contented sigh and eased into the hug, especially when Baymax toddled over and joined in with his heating systems on. Hiro tried to play things cool if possible, but his friends' affection was on the list of things he couldn't say no.

''Tadashi would be proud of you, Hiro." whispered Honey Lemon with adoring eyes as they disconnected the hug.

''Yeah little man, and so are we." added Fred, earning agreeing nods.

''Thanks guys, really." replied Hiro with a sincere smile, his toothgap showing thanks to his slight overbite.

After that, the gang of four teenagers said their goodbyes to Hiro and Baymax and left the building while telling Hiro not to stay for long since Aunt Cass would definitely start stress eating again out of worry. After accepting an invitation from Fred to a party scheduled for tomorrow, Hiro and Baymax were the only ones still in the SFIT building.

After the boy made sure no one was around, he grinned mischievously and bolted towards one of the drawers, Baymax following suit.

''I fail to see how hiding your other project from your friends would lead to any positive consequence." commented Baymax as he watched Hiro pull out a medium-sized purple disk from the drawer.

''Well… what do your database know about feeling overwhelmed?" asked Hiro distractedly while he put the purple disk on the ground and started connecting cables to it.

''Overwhelm: to overpower and to overcome. Connected to emotion levels, it's the state when your mind feels overcome completely by other emotions, thus creating a state where the mind becomes unable to comprehend any more information and turns into a 'fight-or-flight' mode. Are you worried of your friends emotional well-being?" asked Baymax while tilting his head in a sort of inquiring mode.

''Erm… Sorta. I mean, showing them some wishy-washy that can make things fireproof is one thing, but actual time travel? Now that would be a tad bit too much." agreed Hiro as he put the last cable into the disk and started calibrating on its remote controller, which was basically a black wristband with a circular panel in the middle displaying holograms in front of the boy.

''I can see the logic behind it. May I know, what you are planning to do with your time travel disk this time?" asked Baymax as he leaned in and looked at the hologram where Hiro was typing. The boy narrowed his eyes while his tongue was sticking out, which Baymax recognized as an expression of concentration and focus.

''Well bud, we are going to make a visit a thousand years back as a test drive." replied the boy as he dramatically pressed the last button for his calibrations and grinned at the robot next to him.

''I must vocalize again that I do not support this idea." said Baymax, his tone sounding oddly scolding, even though the monotony didn't change.

Hiro just smiled cockily.

''That's where you are wrong bud." replied Hiro as he cleared his throat, raised his finger in Baymax's fact-telling mode and started imitating the robot.

''I would support the idea if you made sure to properly prepare for such a journey. I would recommend enough food, water, change of clothes, a medical kit, and I would also advise bringing your personal healthcare companion too, which would include our upgraded armor and my new battery station as well." said Hiro in a monotone, Baymax-like voice, ending it with a smug, self-satisfied grin.

After defeating Yokai and agreeing to continue being super heroes, Hiro agreed to make some necessary upgrades on everyone's armor. The major upgrade was that the armor would kind of 'build up to the person', as in, it actually dressed itself on everyone. So instead of wasting time trying to get into their suit, they could just press a button on a specialized backpack and it would automatically wear itself on their users. In Baymax's case, Hiro actually upgraded the robot itself by adding the armor inside the robot's vinyl cover. It was connected ot its carbon-fiber skeleton and upon hearing a command word (or Baymax overriding his programing in emergencies) the armor would pop up from the robot's back and would coat the marshmallow man the same way as the other suits did. It turned out to be really effective, they could react to sudden emergencies in a blink of an eye now, then turn back to civilian mode like nothing happened.

Hiro also upgraded Baymax for this time travel project too by downloading necessary information from the internet, for the times when they would go back to a time where internet, or radio signals altogether weren't even in idea. His battery station was upgraded too, so it used the most technologically advanced solar panels, since the sun was the most powerful and constant source of energy Hiro could think of.

''From the monotone tone of your voice and the way you used my fact-stating finger raising, I believe you just did what my database calls: mocking." replied Baymax with a tilt of his head.

''You call it mocking, I call it gentle but entertaining reminding of your words." replied Hiro as he put the disk in position and put his two backpacks on his back and front. One for his armor and one for the necessities Baymax listed.

''So, buddy, you ready be the first time traveller robot in history?" asked Hiro as he proposed his fist towards his friend. Baymax looked down at the fist and he quickly followed his 'fist-bump' protocol.

''Ba-la-la-la-la-la-la!" came the silent exclamation from both boy and robot.

Hiro then pressed a button on his wristband, making the disk glow with electricity first, then a turquoise circle appeared and started growing from the middle. It stopped when it was twice as big as the purple disk was, making it enough for both Hiro and Baymax to jump in. Robot and Boy looked at each other, the latter smiling broadly as they both nodded and jumped into the portal at the same time with their own cry of cheer. After that, the turquoise circle gradually narrowed until it completely disappeared, the purple disk under it missing aswell.

It should also be noted, that an agape Fred witnessed everything. _Everything._


	2. When Fates Meet

**Year 1032, Faroe Islands, Berk**

 

**Hiro's Perspective**

 

Hiro felt tired… Or more like exhausted… Maybe even completely drained.

Point is, when he finally regained a bit of consciousness, his welcome party included unmoving limbs, a migraine-like headache, sleepiness and the hardness of whatever he was laying on. Naturally, as his brain wasn't functioning yet, he tried to go back to sleep while snuggling into his pillows and blankets and continue whatever dream he had.

There was a slight problem though; he couldn't find either his blankets or his pillows. Instead, he found air and the surface of something that felt like a rock. But he was in his bed, so where were his other stuff?

''Hiro."

That was Baymax's voice. What is he doing out of his station? Did someone activate him on accident? Maybe Aunt Cass? Or maybe Hiro just forgot to deactivate the robot after they came back home from their test? Did they even get home? Now that Hiro thinks about it, he doesn't remember getting home at all or what happened while he was time traveling. Damn sleepy brain.

''Hiro, wake up."

That was Baymax again. What could be so important that Hiro has to wake up so hastily? Whatever it is, it cannot be _that_ urgent. The robot would give up at some point, right? Yeah, most likely.

…

But… Baymax knows how important it is to sleep, so if he wants Hiro to wake up it must be important, right? Maybe he had a nightmare and Baymax wants to soothe him? But Hiro doesn't remember dreaming at all, nor does he feel sweat on his skin or the pounding of his heart that people usually get after nightmares.

''Hiro, I know you are awake, your heart and breathing rate has increased and your melatonin levels have drastically lessened. Please wake up."

Okay, if Baymax manages to sound urgent, then it was time for Hiro do as asked.

As he opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that whatever place they were currently at, it was not in his room. Far from it actually. While rubbing sleep out of his eyes and slowly sitting up, he scanned his surroundings; It looked like they were in some kind of mini-valley or a dried up cove. The walls that surrounded them were at a decent height and Hiro could see ivy climbing up on the side. Whatever this place was, it did not look like San Fransokyo at all.

Now that he thinks about it, where were they exactly?

''Baymax? Where-'' but he was cut off from the marshmallow robot's hand covering his mouth completely. Hiro looked up at his companion and saw him putting a finger in front of the his 'mouth' (which was the line between his 'eyes'), signaling the boy to be quiet.

Hiro tilted his head in confusion as he watched the robot raise his other hand towards the opposite end of their mini-valley. Hiro followed the outstretched vinyl-balloon hand and almost gave an unmanly squeak when he saw what was laying there.

It looked like a big black lizard… with wings. He has never seen anything like that, the closest thing he could compare it to was a crocodile or an alligator, but he has never heard of a completely pitch black specimen of either species. And then there was the wings. Whatever this lizzard was, it could fly and the thought was kind of scary but awesome at the same time.

His curiosity quickly overtook his fear as he started admiring the lizards form that was clearly designed for flying. Air resistance must have been a rare acquaintance for such a sleek body.

''Baymax, what is that?" whispered Hiro, while slowly turning his head towards his robot who silently observed the lizard too.

''I have done several scans on the animal while you were: 'out cold' as my expression databanks has it, but I couldn't find a complete match in either of my databases. The closest match I found was the Komodo dragon." explained Baymax as his belly lit up and showed a picture of the lizard that looked _somewhat_ close to what was laying before them.

''But I managed to find an anomaly." continued Baymax as the picture of the lizard decreased in size and a map of the world appeared.

''Komodo dragons are found in several islands of the Indonesian peninsula. My censors indicated that where your portal brought us has 478.9% less humidity and the temperature is 13 celsius lower than the lowest recorded temperature in any of the islands under Indonesian authority. This indicates that the species could not house in a climate like this, meaning that it is not a Comodo Dragon. This also shows that we are most likely in a northern direction compared to both the islands of Indonesia and San Fransokyo, as the climate of the zone does not match the climate of San Fransokyo either." explained Baymax while his belly showed visuals of what he was talking about. Hiro already patted himself on the back for downloading half the internet on Baymax.

Now that the robot mentioned it, it was actually quite chilly here, Hiro could almost see his breath in the air as he exhaled. He was sure if he didn't have his SFIT jacket on, he would be shivering while listening to the robot listing off the numerous dangerous of hypothermia.

''Thanks Baymax, but did you mention 'dragon'?" asked Hiro as he stood of from his bed (that now he knows was actually a rock), and dusted himself off. He had heard about the mythological creatures from Fred numerous amounts of times and after the robot mentioned the word, Hiro started to suspect that they may be facing against a real life specimen now. As Fred once phrased it:' How cool is that? I mean scary, obviously, but how cool?'

''Yes, Komodo dragon. The animal laying there shares a number of noticable- Oh no."

The robots absurd stop actually sent a pang of fear through Hiro. The boy looked back at the dragon, and saw the lizard wide awake, standing on all fours and growling at them. It was in a defensive stance, eyes turned into cat-like slits that clearly told the message not to come near or else. Hiro turned around and held his hands up while praying that the dragon understood that he meant no harm. It would be hard to explain to Aunt Cass how he got missing limbs and burn marks.

  

**Toothless' Perspective**

 

Toothless was bewildered by the current situation.

He was woken up by a very monotone voice coming from a small distance and two different smells in the air. His instincts of course woke him up immediately and told him to defend himself from trouble. For all he knew, some of the Vikings could be near, and he was sure neither of them was like his best friend, Hiccup.

In a blink of an eye, he was awake and focused on the intruders, ready for a fight if needed. There were two of them it seemed, but neither of them looked like normal vikings, or like any human he has ever encountered before. The dragon wasn't even sure if it was two humans, because one of them looked too pale, had a weird drawing on his stomach, his head lacked ears, a nose and a mouth, and his scent wasn't human-like. Toothless could feel his state of alarm and curiosity both sky rocket. He didn't know what this faceless not-human was or what it was capable of, and the dragon was torn between wanting to know and just blasting it to be sure.

Then there was the actual human. It was a wee hatchling, scrawny and weak, which reminded Toothless of Hiccup. After a quick inspection of the hatchling, the dragon observed that the hatchling had no weapons on him as the typical metallic scent was absent from the air, which was one of the reasons why Toothless hadn't attacked yet and decided to vocalize his presence by growling in their direction.

Both the not-human and the hatchling heard his growl, because they quickly turned towards his direction. The boy's face was more clear to Toothless now and the dragon could see that he did not expect him to be awake. Said boy took up a nervous stance while holding both his limbs in front of his chest, a clear sign of defenselessness and peace.

Toothless would have felt amused by the hatchling's change in state, but he was too occupied with two things: One, while it was a fact that the boy was nervous, Toothless could spot that all-too familiar curiosity and innocence in his eyes, just like the ones Hiccup had in his own when they first met. That itself soothed Toothless' nerves tremendously, as he now knew that this boy wasn't a heartless, bloodthirsty human either. He even came without weapons or anything pointy to ensure the dragon that he meant no harm. Strange.

And for Two, the not-human was strangely unresponsive. With the lack of face, Toothless didn't know what emotion it felt, and its not-human scent didn't give him any more info either. Its posture was calm and neutral too, so the dragon didn't know if the not-human was at least scared or not.

He knew that he should just chase them away as a warning, but his curiosity wanted to know more about this boy and his companion. He wanted to inspect both of them closely, and since neither seemed dangerous, Toothless started walking in their direction with his head held low and his slightly pupils dilated, trying to look non-threatening while still being intimidating to ensure the boy knew that he hadn't won his trust yet but the dragon was open to ideas. For good measures, he retracted his teeth and remembered how to do that happy teeth baring Hiccup called 'a smile'. If both of these strangers were friendly, then maybe the dragon could use it and make them his friends. But first, he had to see whether this boy was like every other viking or like his Hiccup. It was a truly curious situation for Toothless.

  

**Hiro's perspective**

 

Okay, he might be embarrassed by saying this, but that… 'dragon' looked actually somewhat adorable. It was just mixed with that menacing look that stopped Hiro from actually giving a second penny to that thought. At least it was clear that the dragon wasn't feeling like scaring them away or straight up killing them was a number one priority. This was a good sign and that made Hiro relax a little. Of course, he was still anxious, meeting with a wild animal that could kill him in a second (if Fred's stories are to be believed) isn't to be taken lightly. But in order to make peace, he needed to show that he was not scared and that he meant no harm either.

As the dragon approached, Hiro looked at Baymax curiously. The robot seemed to watch every movement of the black lizard, obviously ready to defend the boy if the animal decided to attack. That reassured Hiro somewhat, but now he had to worry about the well-being of Baymax too.

After turning his head back to the dragon, he took a deep breath and tried to first thing that came to his mind. Reasoning.

''Okay, dragon, I hope you know that we are not dangerous, so could you maybe drop the scary, take-one-wrong-step-and-you-are-dead act?" pleaded awkwardly Hiro in the softest voice he could muster as he tried to relax his posture. He didn't know much about animals, but even the fool knew that being scared against a predator was not a good starting point. He was, indeed, quite scared, but it was a chance to maybe get to know an _actual_ dragon (that is, if he survived this meeting), something no one in History has ever done as far as he was notified, so he tried to hide his fear for the sake of science.

He was about to wince of the realization that he really did just try to reason with a wild animal who couldn't possibly understand him, when exactly that happened. The dragon's tense posture relaxed and his pupils slightly delated while Hiro could swear he heard a grunt that was supposed to be an answer. The reptile didn't stop advancing towards him and Baymax, but Hiro noticed that there was no more growling. This was actually quite relieving, because that meant that the dragon started to trust them somewhat. Or at least Hiro hoped so.

He then started thinking about a different way to approach the dragon without it thinking that Hiro was dangerous. He remembered when he and the gang went over to Wasabi's home to celebrate the man's birthday. Turns out, Wasabi had a dog that he dubbed as 'Princess'. It was amusing and earned him some teasing, but the dog was admittedly adorable and seemed like a very proud animal, so everybody agreed that the name made sense. She was kind of cautious of strangers, so Wasabi told the gang to raise their open hand, let her have the first move and sniff their palm. It worked, because she turned really friendly after doing this ritual with everyone (even Baymax, though she mostly ignored the robot).

Hiro felt stupid for comparing a mythological fire breathing creature and a dog, but he had no other idea. He slowly stretched out his hand towards the reptile, making sure to avoid sudden movements. The dragon halted when he (was it even a he?) noticed the arm and his pupils narrowed back for a moment, but then he almost seemed to brighten up and pick up his pace afterwards. Soon the dragon was centimeters away from the outstreched palm, the boy could feel hot breath hitting it. Hiro almost retracted his arm in alarm, but he knew that he would lose all the development he made, so he forced himself to keep his arm steady. The most his fear could get out of him was a headturn, which Hiro only did so he won't be able to see it if he lost an arm today. At least that was what he told himself.

  

**Toothless' Perspective**

 

As he saw the boy relaxing and much to his surprise, reaching out with his hand, Toothless felt somewhat happy. Are all scrawny and small human hatchlings this friendly? He wasn't one meter away from the palm when instinctual doubt started flooding his mind at the last second. Could he really put his trust in more humans, when not one day ago he decided that Hiccup is the only human possible of changing?

Toothless was about to change his mind when the boy actually turned his head towards the other direction, a clear sign of trust. Now **that** was the movement when Toothless instincts changed from cautious to trusting. This was just another peaceful human hatchling, who was plain crazy albeit quite curious. So crazy in fact that he put his trust in a dragon that said reptile won't hurt them back. And Toothless could reward and maybe even respect such valiance.

Making up his mind, he leaned in and touched the palm. He felt that funny feeling too! The same he had with Hiccup when the dragon touched his palm. He continues to stand corrected, this human was nothing to be afraid of, maybe even a possible friend. It was time now to see some this human's story.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. In his mind, he was dismantling the scent and trying to recognize its components. At the core, it was the boy's own scent. It smelled sweet, but not as sweet as Hiccup's. There was a slight spicyness to it, which Toothless knew it meant that the boy was a thrill seeker, but a careful one. An innocent thrill seeker that is too curious for their own good. That was a way too familiar concept for Toothless. What was not familiar is that faint scent of matureness that shouldn't have been here. What could have caused such a young boy to have that scent? Hiccup's didn't have this aroma while every adult viking Toothless has encountered had it. Speaking of interesting human stories, this was definitely something the dragon very much wanted to look after.

In addition, there was a lot, and by that, Toothless means a **lot** of scents he couldn't recognize. Some were bitter, some were spicy and the dragon didn't know their origins. He would have to follow the boy and see where they come from. Then there were the ones he knew of: other humans, vegetables, fruits and even some meat too, but strangely, no fish. This was unusual, most humans around there ate a lot of fish, not this one though. There were traces of the boys emotions too, only slightly weaker since the other smells shadowed them. The boy was nervous but excited at the same time, happy but Toothless sensed some amount of loneliness and grief too. Was he like Hiccup, rejected and alone? Who did he lose that was dear to his heart? Was this loss the reason of the adult scent?

Yep, he could work with this hatchling as well. Toothless here decided to keep this boy too.

  

**Hiro's perspective**

 

As the black dragon finally accepted him, Hiro felt lightheaded. Okay, this was not scary anymore. He was touching an actual dragon, and it was soo cool! What would Fred give to see and experience this. He started petting the lizard, who looked like he was lost in his own world, eyes closed and all. Hiro glanced at Baymax next to him who was watching the exchange while tilting his head. Now that he thinks about it, the robot didn't do anything while a clearly dangerous animal was approaching Hiro. Did Baymax know that nothing would happen? If not, then why didn't he speak up?

He was about to comment when a noise he least expected interrupted him: purring. Hiro snapped his head towards the content-looking dragon and felt his mouth drop. He knew purring all to well, being the owner of a cat and all, but he thought it was only a feline thing. Seeing it from such a creature was surprising, but all the more interesting. Hiro's face was slowly overtaken by a giddy smile as he kept petting the dragon's snout with both hands now.

''Your neurotransmitter levels have increased, meaning: you are happy. Does being in the company of the toothless dragon make you happy, Hiro?" asked Baymax.

Hiro was about to answer when he realized what the robot just said. He looked at the dragon and saw him giving a very forced and unnatural 'smile' to the boy. Hiro was surprised to see him not having any teeth and would have laughed and felt amused but then a question hit him.

How does a dragon know how to smile, if it is that obvious that he shouldn't know so?

Before he could dwell on that, the dragon realized that Baymax was present too. Carefully, the reptile stood before the robot, who looked down back at him, both looking quite curious. Baymax decided to use his experiences with Princess too and stretched out his balloon hand. The dragon seemed to be more cautious around Baymax then Hiro, which was understandable. Baymax was a robot, he probably didn't have the human scent that Hiro had.

The toothless dragon looked at the white hand that was inviting him. He sniffed it, but it didn't seem to be helping him figuring out what Baymax is. The robot in question took his sniffing as acceptance and started rubbing the top of the dragon's head.

''Scaaally baby" crooned (yes, crooned) Baymax. The dragon froze for a second and then melted into the robot's palm.

Talking about scary beasts that can kill you with their breath.

Hiro chuckled in relief and started thinking about what to do now. With his more than awake brain, he quickly realized that they were still in the middle of time traveling back 1000 years in time, somewhere north it seemed. While Baymax and the dragon were having their moment, Hiro sat down, trotted his hologram with the data on their journey out and searched for the reason why they ended up in a different place.

After scanning through the data, Hiro established that they weren't exactly a thousand years back in time, more like 1000 years and 8 hours. That would explain why they weren't at the same place where they entered the portal, since if the machine worked perfectly, they would have ended up at precisely a thousand years ago, thus the earth would have been in the same state in space compared to when they entered the portal. They are basically 8 hours earlier than intended, so the earth is in a state 8 hours before, so they are at the place where Honey Lemon's lab would be 1000 years and 8 hours in the future. Hiro realized that if the machine malfunctioned differently, they could have ended up in the middle of the ocean as well.

He sighed, laid back on the rock he slept and ran his hand through his always messy hair. Perks for having such fur on his head that it was really hard to differentiate his morning hair and his normal one. But currently his mayor concern was connected to him and Baymax going back home, not brushing his hair. If his calculations are correct, he needed to stay here exactly 8 more hours to be able to go back to San Fransokyo a thousand years later. That is, if his machine doesn't malfunction and throw them 8 hour sooner or later in their timeline. Sooner wouldn't be that bad, he could just pretend nothing happened and replay the rest of the day, although he would have to finish his fireproof project again which would be a bummer. If he ended up later, he would have to face Aunt Cass's wraith and stress eating, which was actually a painful thing for Hiro to watch. He didn't like seeing his only family left in such a vulnerable state and he had sworn to avoid it a long time ago.

With another weary sigh he looked up at the sky and relaxed. He was happy that his invention worked but it caused him some problems. Mainly; what is he going to do in someplace near Medieval Scotland or Denmark for 8 hours with Baymax and an overgrown dragon form of Mochi?

Speaking of those two, Hiro raised his head and glanced at them. Baymax was currently sitting down with a sleeping dragon curled around him, who looked pretty content with the current developments. But Hiro noticed the robot watching the boy instead of the big lizard in his lap and raised a questioning eyebrow as an answer.

''Just for your information Hiro, you time portal disk is situated under the leaves over there. I made sure to hide them away from intruders while you were unconscious." said the marshmallow robot as he pointed towards a big pile of leaf laying next to Hiro's 'bed'.

The genius boy smiled.

''Thanks buddy. Now what should we-'' he suddenly halted when the dragon's ear plates or what perked up, followed by the dragon's head. Soon the big lizard was standing, but not in alert because he wore that toothless grin on his face. In a blink of an eye, he bolted towards the other side of the cove, quite fast if Hiro was honest. If the dragon was this fast on ground, Hiro suspected that reaching the speed of sound is a piece of cake for the lizard.

 

**Hiccup's Perspective**

 

Something was clearly off.

First things first, Toothless didn't topple him to the ground the moment Hiccup entered the cove. That itself started raising alarms in the boy's mind already. The second was that the dragon didn't immediately go after his daily basket of fish. Instead, he took Hiccup's hand in his toothless maw and started dragging the helpless boy deeper into the cove. Hiccup could do nothing but go along with the excited-looking dragon while searching for the thing that made Toothless lose his mind.

Soon he was dragged through the entire cove and ended up at the opposite side of it, where his eyes widened as he spotted something he dreaded; people. Or more like a person and his white… what in the name of Thor was that?

When he was a good three meters far from the sitting stranger and that something, Toothless let him go and sat on his haunches with a happy grin on his innocent face. Hiccup just watched the dragon with a speechless face, while his mind was still trying to process these recent developments. There were other _people_ close to Toothless, who actually seemed happy to introduce them to Hiccup, and said _people_ didn't scream bloody murder or tried attacking his best friend.

Hiccup, after pinching himself to make sure that it was reality, slowly lifted his head, looked at the two in front of him and started noticing their features.

The boy was not only obviously not a viking, but he wasn't even from the known Europe to Hiccup's people. Hiccup has heard of countries such as France, England and the Holy Roman Empire, and even saw some of the people coming from these places when he and his father was negotiating with them. To top it off, he was told that Trader Johann was actually from the Kingdom of France, though he was raised by Norse parents and that's why he didn't speak funnily. Point is, this boy couldn't have come from either of these lands for a number of reasons: One, his attire was really strange. Hiccup could dwell on how his tunic only reached his waist or how his leather (or he thought that was leather) pants were kind of short and had one too many pockets, but he didn't want to be caught staring. Point is, not a wear Hiccup has ever witnessed.

And for two, his face was rather fascinating, though maybe 'confusing' is a better word for it. Hiccup has never seen anyone with such a black and messy hair or with non-circular brown eyes like these. His skin color was also darker than anyone living in the Viking Archipelago, so he must have come from south. The boy also had a toothgap, which reminded Hiccup of his own one, resulting in him subconsciously dragging his tongue over the gap between his teeth.

Then there was this white pile of human-shaped something. Hiccup was surprised that he actually felt at ease while being stared down by this thing instead of the usual fear and nervousness. It looked actually inviting rather than menacing. Hiccup couldn't really describe its appearance, besides that it was big, fat, white and had two eyes with a line between then.

Soon, he realized that both him and the boy were in the middle of an awkward silence, so Hiccup cleared his throat and took a deep breath.

''So. I don't know who you are, but you managed to befriend Toothless, and since he is still not full of axes and other various weapons, I'm willing to trust that you two mean no harm?" asked Hiccup while crossing his arms. The other boy looked somewhat relieved.

''Well, he didn't exactly give us a reason. He just kind of sniffed us and then acted all cat-like." answered the boy, looking a tad bit pleased with himself.

That one answer made both Hiccup's eyebrows rose. It was the first time he has ever heard anyone needing a reason to kill a dragon, and it was quite unbelievable hearing Toothless, who as far as Hiccup was notified, loathed every other human than him, just walked right up two strangers like all's forgiven.

But he couldn't doubt the other boy's word. Toothless did seem to be at ease around these two, and he was still alive and well, so maybe Hiccup could give them a chance.

''Considering that you managed to be more exciting for him than his usual basket of cod, I think I will believe you." shrugged Hiccup, his posture gradually relaxing.

''Don't count on that." replied the other boy. Hiccup stared at him in a confused manner until he noticed that the boy wasn't looking at him anymore. Hiccup followed his line of sight and found the basket, that was still on his back, having a dragon maw sized hole on the underside of it and Toothless's head buried deep in the basket as he was obviously eating.

''Toothless! At least wait for me to give it to you!" exclaimed Hiccup while letting go of the basket and watching half of the dragon disappear in the basket.

''Useless reptile…" mumbled the Viking boy as he sighed and turned back to the strangers. The other boy was looking amused while his companion was watching Toothless eat.

''I don't mean to sound rude or unwelcoming, but who are you and what are you doing here?" asked Hiccup, followed by a wince. He did sound rude, but the other boy didn't take it to his heart it seemed.

''Erm, yeah… I'm Hiro, Hiro Hamada." said the boy, or _Hero_ as he called himself. Hiccup would have scoffed at such a name if he wasn't the one running around with the name Hiccup. Plus the boy seemed like a foreigner, so it must be a normal name where he came from, maybe even means something different.

Hiccup was about to answer when the other boy reached out with his hand, trying to _shake hands._

Wow, wait, this guy knew manners? Now Hiccup was completely, undoubtedly sure that Hero wasn't a viking. Vikings didn't know manners, that's why most European people liked avoiding them. They were disgusting, atrocious and unfriendly.

Luckily for Hero, Hiccup was not your everyday Viking.

''I'm Hiccup, and you don't want to hear my full name." replied the Viking while shaking the hand of the foreigner. He expected laughing or a small chuckle, but instead he got a confused look.

''Hiccup? Is that some kind of nickname?" asked Hero while tilting his head.

''N-no… it's… It's tradition. V-viking tradition." replied Hiccup while scratching his forearm nervously. He wasn't surprised to see the other boy's face becoming one of surprise. Viking-like would be the last to describe Hiccup's appearance.

Before Hero could reply, the white human-like thing spoke up in a surprisingly monotone voice.

''Vikings were known to be extremely supersticious. Their naming traditions included: choosing a hideous name to scare away trolls and gnomes." said the thing while holding up his finger matter-of-factly. Both Hiccup and Hero looked at him, one in awe the other in questioning confusion.

''Baymax, how much do you exactly know about Vikings?" asked Hero while turning towards his companion, _Baymax_. Much to Hiccup's astonishment, the thing's belly lit up and drawings of his people started appearing and disappearing. Hiccup was contemplating calling witchcraft.

''You have downloaded me a whole database on Vikings as they were important to our test journey. They were scandinavian seafarers, who raided and traded with the medieval northern europeans during the 8th to late 11th century." said Baymax, his belly showing a map of Scandinavia with some settlements pointed out on them. Hero seemed to be in thought as listened and slowly nodded. Then he turned towards the clueless Hiccup and searched for his words.

''Could you tell us where we are exactly?" asked Hero with a sheepish smile. Hiccup was still fazed by the fact that this things could change his… tatoos or what, but he managed to shake himself out enough to answer.

''Erm… Berk. You are on Berk." answered Hiccup uncertainly. The thing under the name of Baymax seemed to zone out for a second before an alien noise was emitted from its body

''My databases contain no information about any Viking settlements under the name of 'Berk'." replied Baymax, disappointment evident on Hero's face. Before said boy could open his mouth, Baymax's tatoos changed again, showing… people riding dragons?

''But my mythological databanks has several stories containing a place under the name of 'Berk'. These stories are mostly legends from Scottish, Danish and English traditions telling of a place where people rode dragons and defended Viking tribes from Pirates and other various nations." said Baymax.

''Okay, so we are in a legendary island, inhabited by Vikings who ride dragons?" asked Hero, skepticism (and a bit of excitement) evident in his voice but he looked at the Viking boy for confirmation. Hiccup stammered and shook is head.

''W-what? NO! People here kill dragons!" exclaimed Hiccup his voice full of disbelief. He immediately winced when he remembered that Toothless has probably finished eating his fish and was listening to the conversation. After glancing at the dragon in question, Hiccup sighed in relief when he saw Toothless sleeping sound, only stirring a bit from the loud exclamation.

''Point is, vikings don't ride dragons. It's tradition to kill them actually." said Hiccup in a hushed tone after turning back to Hero. Said foreigner slowly raised his hand and started pointing at the sleeping form of Toothless and Hiccup with a questioning eye brow.

Hiccup sighed.

''Yeah I'm… I'm not really a tradition follower. And it's a long story how I met him." said the Viking boy, getting a sincere smile from the strange foreigner.

Now that Hiccup thought about it, Hero has been giving him _smiles_ and seemed _interested_ instead of the usual scowl and annoyed answers. To top it off, the boy haven't laughed _at_ him so far, not even when Hiccup told him his name. That was… unusual, yet definitely not unwelcome. The fact that he may have just found somebody who he could talk with about stuff without being judged was actually a thrilling thought. Hiccup hoped that after getting to know him, Hero wouldn't join the long line of people who would do anything to avoid 'Hiccup the Useless', but for once the viking boy thought he had the right to be optimist. His newfound optimism was backed up by evidences such as Toothless being alive and actually being fond of both strangers, and the other boy looking just as thrilled after hearing that there is a story of how Hiccup broke all Viking traditions. Whoever this was, he seemed much more delightful and interesting than all his village combined, and he even had that white, human-like thing full of facts about vikings and… databases, was it?

''Well, me and Baymax are stuck here for some time, and we don't really know where are we or what to do really, so why don't you share it? The story, I mean…" trailed off Hero, restrained hopefulness in his voice. Hiccup didn't miss it, nor did he miss that short glance at his covered wrist where Hiccup could see something under that weird blue thin-coat covering the short-tunic. The boy had something on his wrist, and Hiccup wanted know what it was.

It was clear that both boys were interested in the other's background, Hiccup wanted to know more of where Hero and Baymax came from, what was exactly Baymax, why are they so cool around probably the deadliest dragon in existence and what secrets could this boy have.

Baymax cut Hiccup's (and probably Hero's) train of thought before anyone could open their mouths.

''In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, overwhelming feelings and too much confusion, I would advise sitting down face-to-face and asking one question at the time. It is a great technique of getting to know a new person without 'painting the wrong picture' as my expression database says it." said Baymax, holding up his matter-of-fact finger. Hiccup thought it was kind of reasonable, but Hero seemed to brighten up.

''I knew that I wouldn't be regretting Honey Lemon talking me into downloading the whole psychological Wikipedia pages to you. Great idea buddy." exclaimed the foreign boy as he hit the thing in its belly. Baymax didn't even blink upon the contact, it seemed that the hit wasn't that bad, or just the thing can handle hits like this.

Hero then sat up and looked at Hiccup with a nod of his head towards the rock where the viking saw him sitting earlier. Hiccup was still awed that Hero managed to make a decently sized sentence that contained more words the viking didn't understand, yet he felt like he should than words he did understand.

Nevertheless, Hiccup followed Hero and sat down next to him. Toothless, who seemed to be realizing that his friends have moved, sleepily stood up, dizzied over to the two boys, curled around Hiccup's side of the rock, then fell asleep. Whether he was really tired, or just extremely bored, Hiccup couldn't decide. Baymax walked behind Hero too and just stood there idly. Hiccup looked at him with a confused look, wondering how can something stand so long without moving a muscle and not complaining about soreness or discomfort, but then sighed and changed his focus to the boy in front of him, who crossed his legs and smiled with a childish glee. Hiccup couldn't fight the smile appearing on his face.

''So, some weeks ago, there was a dragon raid…"

* * *

So that's how Hiccup and Hero ended up in an animated chat, sharing stories of their lives. Hiccup was right in the end, Hero was a sucker for the little viking's story, confirmed by how he silently listened to every piece of the story, only asking small questions to parts Hiccup admittedly could have worded better. The viking also noticed that Hero was listening without giving him disapproving or outraged looks while seemingly sucking in all the info. When Hiccup arrived at the part where he had Toothless's life in his hand, Hero looked absolutely horrified and sympathetic at the same time. Baymax cut off Hiccup to tell them that Hero's adre-something level has increased and his dopaman or dopamin or whatever levels have decreased at the same time, which somehow translated to the boy being frightened. It's not like Baymax was wrong, Hero did look like he was on the edge, so Hiccup made sure to remind the boy that Toothless was alive and breathing, so maybe he could use his brain to figure out what happened. The foreigner boy also looked almost angry when Hiccup told him about how people from his village treated him, which was later confirmed by Baymax and more strange, unknown words. This was… oddly flattering.

After Hiccup's story has ended, thanks to Baymax's advice, Hero (finally!) started talking about himself. He seemed quite nervous and had a hard time forming comprehensible sentences, but he managed to share it with the viking that he came from a city called San Fransokyo, which turned out to be not only really far (Baymax shown the world map through his tatoos to Hiccup, who spent minutes in marveling all the undiscovered land), but quite populous as well. The only 'city' Hiccup knew of was a center of trade, and even that only housed 20.000 residents. Turns out, San Fransokyo had a million people. How could a city have so many people in it at once was a mystery to Hiccup.

Then Hero told him about how he was a child prodigy, (it was mostly Baymax, while the other boy was trying to silence the thing) and how he managed to graduate 'high school' at the age of thirteen. After a short explanation on what high school was, Hiccup could only stare dumbfounded at the boy before him. If what the thing just said and what Hero didn't decline was true, than Hiccup is conversing with probably the smartest person ever to be existing on earth. Of course, at first the viking was disbelieving, but he was sure as hell convinced when Hero confessed that he built Baymax.

Hooooold on. _Built_? As in, with tools and stuff to make him? Upon questioning this particular part, Hero told the viking _to put his face in Baymax's belly_. The request was so weird that Hiccup did just that and could not believe what he saw. The white surface, 'vinyl' as Hero called it, was actually hiding a metallic spine with weird things coming in and out of it. Hero tried to explain the gist of it to Hiccup, but it was all in vain; The viking boy could only stare at Baymax in half astonishment, half fear. A human, made from metal, by a fourteen year old boy.

Hero was lucky that it was Hiccup's turn to answer a question of the foreigner's, because the viking would have unloaded everything at once. There was something big that Hero was hiding, and Hiccup's stubborn curiosity was thirsty.

 

**Hiro's perspective**

 

Okay. He had gathered so much info his head was hurting. Thankfully, Baymax had some Aspirins just in case, which came in handy.

He was in a legendary viking island (that hypothetically shouldn't even exist) where people hypothetically rode dragons but Hiccup, his new friend claimed that the exact opposite was happening. Hiro came to the conclusion that something happened that made all the vikings change their ways in a 180 degree. Considering that Vikings will be around pillaging stuff for 60 more years, but then suddenly they will just stop, Hiro concluded that befriending dragons had some kind of connection to the sudden peaceful attitude of the seafarers.

Next he was told that he managed to meet the _heir_ to the chief role of a nearby village who was secretly betraying every standing tradition by having an enemy as his best friend. That itself was amusing and Hiro wanted to see how it played out. That amusement turned into a kind of hidden sympathy as Hiccup told him how he could count all the people on his one hand who respected him in some way. Hiro knew the feeling all too well, it is kind of hard to be taken seriously as a 12-year-old boy as a senior in high school. Though he had Aunt Cass and Tadashi at the time, they were family so it was pure logic that they showed him respect. It was kind of hard to stop gawking and keeping in his softer side after Hiccup reassured him that he didn't have a mother or siblings and his father was not on the list of people who respected the little Viking. That was not cool and Hiro made sure to vocalize it, which earned him a _defensive shrug_ and a _sarcastic dismissal_ , as Baymax put it.

The dude's self-confidence was so low he didn't even care for himself. And it was so. not. cool.

This new situation was… conflicting to say the least. The guy was entertaining and was definitely fun in his own sarcastic and viking-ish way, but most importantly, he needed help. That was the thing though, Hiro didn't know whether he should help or not. He was in the past, and he didn't want to change anything that would have a dire consequence on the future. But his conscience was telling him to do it. He had the means to help, he was a superhero in the end and now he had a dragon as an ally, the deadliest one as far as he was told. But should he really risk messing up the future?

In situations like these, Hiro always heard an echo in his head that managed to convince him all the time.

_Someone has to help._

And someone really did have to help. Hiro just hoped that when he goes back to his own time, everything will be the same. In the end, if Hiro changed here something, it couldn't have that big of an after-shock, could it? Befriending dragons must have been the reason of the vikings settling down, so what if Hiro took place in changing their views a bit? Maybe it would even do good getting it over sooner in the end.

As he refocused on reality while Hiccup was finishing a story about some guy named Mildew (after gathering that it was not a pleasant person, Hiro made sure to vocalize his distaste), Hiro noticed that Hiccup's eyes were narrowed. At him.

Was he that obvious that he was not paying full attention to the story? No, Hiro was good at multitasking, he could pay attention to multiple stuff at the same time and he did remember most of what this Mildew guy did in this particular story.

''… and that's how the old Mildew managed to banish one of the most respected warriors in my village. Now, my turn." came the eager finish from the viking.

Uh oh. That look Hiro was receiving was kind of scary. Too eager for his liking.

''So, Hero, some things don't add up with you. You are hiding something big. Care to elaborate?" asked the viking, confirming Hiro's suspicions. Hiccup wasn't a fool.

With a heavy sigh he shared a look with Baymax.

''Honesty is a crucial part of building a friendship Hiro, I would advise using it." said Baymax, getting a groan from the genius boy.

''Taking it back, I'm fully regretting that I agreed to download that psychological stuff on you." announced Hiro while gathering his courage to look at the viking in the eye.

''Would you believe me if I said… that we come from the future?"

* * *

_There._ All cards on the table.

Hiro told Hiccup everyting. From being from the future, to how they got there, to Baymax being a robot and what a robot actually was. It was a really hard task to explain everything truthfully, while making sure that Hiccup understood things. How do you explain a chip, vinyl or even electricity to someone, who has never even came near to hearing about _plastic_ or _gravity_? Hiro managed in the end, and Hiccup seemed to be understanding the gist of it, although most of it were hidden behind that open mouthed shock that permanently found home on the viking's face. But Hiro couldn't fault him, It's not everyday people meet someone from the future.

After finishing, a lengthy silence has befallen on the boys. Toothless's subtle snoring was the only sound, and Hiro started to get uncomfortable. Not because of the snoring or because the silence, but because Hiccup was… not moving. Like, he was completely frozen. He had half a mind to ask Baymax whether the guy was okay, but the robot was silent, which meant that Hiccup was alive…

Right?

Was that a movement Hiro saw? Was th- yes it must have been. It was subtle, but there was a movement around the eyebrow area. Then came another and another, until Hiccup's faced morphed into a contemplating one while not removing his gaze from Hiro.

''Oooookaaaayy." drawled Hiccup slowly, his eyebrow slowly raising.

''And now you think I'm crazy, great." said Hiro with a sigh.

''No, I don't think you are crazy. You are just some guy, who claims to be from the future. That's like, an everyday occurence around here." retorted Hiccup sarcastically. Hiro looked at him questioningly.

''You managed to sound sarcastic while sounding honest at the same time. _How?!_ " exclaimed Hiro playfully, trying to lighten up the mood. Hiccup did seem to lighten up a little.

''Everybody has a special attribute. You have your more than genius brain while I have my amazing charismatic skills." replied Hiccup, making Hiro snort. Said foreigner was fighting really hard not to show how relieved he was that after such a lengthy and unbelievable story, Hiccup wasn't running.

''So… you believe me?" asked Hiro carefully. Hiccup snorted.

  

**Hiccup's perspective**

 

_Do I believe him?_

Question of the century, ladies and gents.

It sounded plain ridiculous. Yet it made sense at the same time. Being from another time would explain his strange attire, his strange look, his strange knowledge of words, how he knew of so many materials and this _electricity_ thing that is basically lightning tamed, and how he could have actually built Baymax. It gave Hiccup all the answers, not like his other assumptions, but the whole idea was hard to believe. I mean, time travel? Is that really possible?

Yet Hiccup was starting to believe him. In the end, he was a firm believer too that dragons were 'mindless animals' until he saw the evidence against it with his own eyes. He did have a hard time accepting the fact that he had a dragon as a friend, would it be any harder to accept that someone was from the future?

Stupid question, yes, but not impossible. In the end, time travel or not, this boy was the first person he has memory of who didn't act negatively towards the viking boy. So what if Hiccup decided to believe that Hiro was actually from the future?

…

He would probably think that he himself was crazy too, but besides the absurdity of the concept, there has only been evidences **with** Hero's claim, none against it.

So with that, Hiccup made up his mind. He will believe in the boy until the first evidence against his claim appears. That seemed reasonable enough for him. If Hero tells the truth, Hiccup could be proud that he believed him, and if he does not, than Hiccup could proud himself that he was prepared for the truth.

As Hiccup finally made up his mind, he lifted his head and looked at 'future-boy' who was still anxiously watching him, waiting for an answer. Hiccup didn't even fight the rare smirk on his face.

''Don't look at me, future boy, before I think that you are using a future form of puppy eyes on me." said the viking while playfully nudging other's shoulder.

''YES!" exclaimed Hero with 'success' written over his face. Hiccup chuckled at the bubbly reaction of Hero and watched as they did that weird hand gesture with Baymax that ended up with something like 'Ba-la-la-la'. Then Baymax started to lecture Hiro about his emotional state and some advice about the next step in making a friend while the boy was reassuring his companion that he didn't need any of that. Hiccup decided to stay out of it. He was actually wondering of a really important question:

_Now what?_

What should he do with Hero and Baymax? It was cool and amazing that he kind of befriended anyone, someone from the future to be exact, but what happens now? He can't bring them into the village as everyone would notice Hero immediately by his strange attire, his strange look and the fact that he was with Hiccup, while the case with Baymax was evident. He could just leave them here with Toothless, they didn't seem worried whether they could go home or not so they must have some way figured out, right? But Hiccup didn't want to leave either of them, he still had some questions to Hero about some future stuff as well as Baymax. The… robot as Hero called him has awakened Hiccup's curiosity. The boy from the future explained that Baymax is like a healer but knows more stuff than any healer possible and can tell facts about your body that Hiccup probably didn't know.

Plus Hiccup maybe, just maybe was really excited to have a friendly conversation with someone at least and enjoyed Hero's company.

But that's beside the point.

''Hey, Hiccup?" came Hero's voice, shaking the viking out of his thoughts. Hiccup acknowledged him with an inquiring 'hm?' while turning toward the future boy, who was in the middle of petting the the snout of the sleeping Toothless. It was actually kind of amazing and kind of worrying how friendly they became so fast while Hiccup needed days to even approach the dragon.

''Can I have a closer look on his prosthetic?" asked Hero while looking at Toothless's missing tail.

''Sure, I don't see why not." Hiccup actually felt happy, albeit shy of sharing his invention with Hero, especially after discovering that Hero himself was a kind of inventor.

Hiccup anxiously watched as Hero went over to the sleeping dragon's tail while dragging his hand over the rope that connected the fin and the pedal. Then Hero opened and closed the fin while observing the rope and the pedal too at the same time. He seemed thoughtful while watching Hiccup's invention work, which made the viking even more anxious. He actually kinda wanted to impress Hero. After all, the boy did build a healer out of metal and that material called plastic with his own hands.

Hero used the pedal, testing its movements. Seeing the future boy's raised eyebrow, Hiccup's anxiousness made him open his mouth.

''I know it's not much, it's not exactly a _robot_ , but…" mumbled Hiccup while nervously rubbing his forearm.

''No, I'm actually impressed. Dude, this is amazing stuff." replied Hero, his fascination evident in his voice. Hiccup snapped his head up in surprise.

''W-what? Why? This cannot be that good. Must be ancient for you…" retorted Hiccup, still not believing that someone actually complimented one of his inventions.

''True, but considering this age's technology and the fact that you are like my age, this is spectacular stuff. Kudos to you man. Must have been hell to learn how to control it though." complimented again Hero while turning back to face Hiccup, who's been rendered speechless. 'Spectacular' and 'Amazing' has never been used to describe his inventions before.

''Y-yeah. We did have our hardships, but we managed, right bud?" asked Hiccup, feeling a little bit of confidence surging through his body…

…which quickly evaporated when he realized that the dragon he just addressed was still asleep, absolutely ignoring his surroundings or the fact that his supposed best friend needed reassurance.

Hero chuckled good-heartedly.

''I think Mr. high-and-mighty is not in the mood of answering you bro." replied Hero cockily. Hiccup wanted to agree, when Baymax spoke up.

''The toothless dragon is not asleep. My sensors indicate that his melatonin levels are low while his heart-rate is at a normal level. My hypothesis is that he is only 'pretending' to sleep in order to listen to the conversation to gather information without your knowledge." said the robot while looking at the sleeping lizard. Or, as of now, 'sleeping' lizard.

''Any idea how to wake him up?" asked Hero with an amused smile. Hiccup rolled his eyes.

''Oh gee, I don't know. We may just have to leave him here. It's kind of sad, I actually wanted to go _flying_ but if someone would rather sleep then _fine by me…_ " drawled Hiccup teasingly. Upon hearing the world 'flying' Toothless's eyes snapped open, the lizard jumped up and gave Hiccup an excited smile while wagging his long tail. Hero had a hard time containing his chuckles.

''There we go, bud." said Hiccup as he connected his harness to Toothless' saddle and jumped on his back. He looked back at his new friends with an inviting smile and held his hand out.

''Wanna go and see how a dragon sees the world?" offered Hiccup. He expected nervousness or any kind of hesitance coming from Hero, but not an over confident smirk.

''Sure." replied the boy, but instead of accepting Hiccup's hand, he started walking backwards, back to Baymax and the rock Hiccup found him.

''Then… where are you going?" asked the viking in a confused manner. Toothless looked impatient but curious too.

Hero reached behind the rock and picked up something that looked like a purple snatchel with weird straps attached to it. Hero put it on his back, the weird shoulder straps helping the bag stay on the boy. Hiccup would have marveled on the whole concept but he was too lost in his confusion, which was amplified when he heard some weird clicking noises. Then the boy from the future turned to face Hiccup and crossed his arms with a smirk.

''Sorry dude, but I have my own ride." said Hero as he pressed something on the left shoulder strap.

Much to Hiccup's surprise, the snatchel immediately started dismantling itself and enveloped the boy's body. A black suit-like cloth covered his weird, future clothes, that was soon overlapped by series of purple armor. A helmet, that covered his entire head appeared in an instant with a glass panel in front of Hero's face. He even got a thick pair of gauntlets that looked like they packed a punch. As a final piece, mysterious red patches appeared from his shoulder, knee and stomach armor, finalizing the boy's new look.

''Wow…" breathed out Hiccup while he watched his new friend in astonishment. Even Toothless was watching the boy with a sideways cocked head and wide, curious eyes.

''You think that's cool? You haven't seen anything yet." replied Hero as he turned towards his robot.

''Baymax, code: redesign." said Hiro, making said robot stretch his fluffy limbs in all directions.

Suddenly, a big red pile of metal emerged from the back of Baymax. In a blink of an eye, the fluffy, huggable and peaceful looking robot was covered in red armor with a purple belly plate, looking quite intimidating in his new look. Hiccup watched in awe as wings emerged from the robot's new armor and Hero climbed on top of his back. Then, flames started emitting from Baymax's feet and the robot and the boy were in the air in the next second.

When they were at a decent height, they turned towards the viking and the dragon, who were still glued to the ground.

''What's up viking boy? I bet your little dragon can't even come near to Baymax's speed in the air." taunted Hiro while nonchalantly inspecting his fingers.

''The chances of you outmatching my speed in air is 1 to 3200. I would advise accepting defeat. That was playful mocking as my database has it." said Baymax, surprising even Hero. Said boy looked back at the pair on the ground the wiggled his eyebrows in a clear sign of challenge.

Okay, it was one thing to show off their future technology, but hurting Toothless's pride was a line. And it didn't help Hero nor Baymax that they purposefully taunted Hiccup too.

The viking smiled confidently (he did that more in the last hour or so than his entire life) and looked down at his dragon.

''What do you say Toothless? Are we going to let them think that they can match your insane speed, or show them who's the king of the skies?" asked Hiccup, getting an agreeing roar as an answer while Toothless took off in a blink of an eye.

That's how the two pairs or friends ended up racing each other in the skies, both laughing while Toothless was making excited roars and Baymax, with the lack of laughing emotes, just keeping silent and observing Hero and his two new patients' emotional state. They were both going in a breakneck speed while doing stunts and tricks, which was a danger to their physical well-being, but their emotional state showed that this treatment was having a positive effect on all three of his patients.

  

**Ruffnut and Tuffnut's Perspective**

 

It was rare to shock these two as they usually simply didn't understand what was so shocking or simply blew up the stuff that shocked them. But this wasn't the situation as they watched the two forms playing in the sky like it was their home.

After managing to get blamed for a blown up barn (courtesy of Snotlout), the Thornston twins were sentenced to spend the rest of the day collecting lame mushrooms and herbs in the forest as their punishment. They expected a god awful boring day ahead of them which would end them beating Snotlout together for being such a good 'friend'. Neither expected to find Hiccup, the new star of the village, in an unknown cove, accompanied by an actual _Night Fury_ , to who the scrawny viking talked to and treated like it was his brother. To top it off, Hiccup was an actual friend of some kind of Shapeshifter God, perhaps even Odin himself. Then he just mounted the Night Fury like a horse and started _racing_ with the Shapeshifter like it was an everyday thing.

They were both sure that after today's events, Hiccup would be their idol to the end of time.

As they were sure that neither the Shapeshifter, nor Hiccup and his Night Fury could spot them, they left their hideouts without removing their gazes from the figures in the sky.

''Man, Hiccup is actually so cool." commented Tuffnut, getting and agreeing nod from his sister.

''Yeah, I actually feel this weird and bad feeling inside of me now when I think about that this was the guy who we made fun of..." replied Ruffnut while rubbing a spot above her heart.

''I think mom said that it is called 'guilt'. I don't like guilt." said Tuffnut while mirroring Ruffnut's action.

A small silence descended on the twins as they slowly changed their gazes at the ground before them.

''Hey bro, do you know how to properly 'apologize'?" asked Ruffnut, her face morphing into disgust as she said the last word.

''We have never apologized to anyone…" answered Tuffnut, actually taking up a thoughtful stance. Ruffnut nodded agreeingly, as it was a true statement.

Suddenly, Tuffnut snapped his fingers and exclaimed.

''I know what we should do! If we want to meet the Shapeshifter, the Night Fury and apologize to Hiccup, we should keep his secret a secret and maybe show him that we support his ideas and decision and defend him from Snotlout and Astrid!"

Tuffnut looked immensely proud.

Ruffnut looked shocked. How could she not, when his completely idiotic and braindead brother actually said something smart and useful or at least something that held real value.

So she did the things that needed to be done at the moment: Agree normally and Agree in a Thornston way.

''You are… actually right."

Then she punched him unconscious.


	3. Dragon, Viking, Genius, Robot

  **Year 1032, Faroe Islands, Berk**

 

Least to say, that the moment both boys and their companions touched the ground of the cove again, they were panting and chuckling with a childish glee of their recent (and admittedly, the longest and best) flight. Soon, they lost the balance in their legs, fell over with their limbs spread out on the ground next to each other, looking at the sky with a broad smile on their faces. Toothless gave a satisfied grunt upon seeing his viking and his new boy laying down and curled around them while Baymax decided to continue scanning the body of this new animal, saving the results for later use. The robot already had the basics of the dragon's body saved in his new data matrix called 'Berk', but with his upgraded scanner still on (as Hiro still didn't gave him the command to change back) he could do a throughout scan.

Back to the boys, they stopped laughing and panting and just looked at the sky, both thinking about the races and the tricks they showed each other in the last hours.

''Dude… Gotta give it to you and Toothless, you have some speed." broke the silence Hiro while sitting up and dusting his armor off. He was thrilled to fly with somebody and could only marvel how the viking and his companion worked together.

''You are one to talk. You really surprised me when you just jumped off Baymax's back so suddenly. I was actually kind of spooked but… you got it covered." admitted Hiccup with a small smile while looking at the other boy.

''Yeah, these magnets are pretty strong." boasted Hiro as he tapped the red magnets in his palms with a proud smile on his lips. He wasn't feeling actually pleased as it didn't take a genius to sew electro-mag pucks into a simple clothing, but he would not let this decrease the satisfaction, that he gained upon seeing the admiring face of Hiccup's.

''You have to explain how these work one day." insisted the viking while looking at these 'magnets' curiously. In his opinion, they looked like simple red metal but something was off about them.

Hiro noticed Hiccup's face absentmindedly getting closer to the magnet in his palm and smirked in mischief. When the viking was decently close, Hiro snapped his palm into a fist, making Hiccup recoil in surprise. Hiro couldn't hold the chuckle while Hiccup wore a not-so convincing annoyed expression.

''Har har, very funny." said the viking while rolling his eyes, but he couldn't fight a faint smile appearing on his face.

''They are not that hard to understand, but I promise I'll explain them to you… someday." replied the Hiro while he pressed a button on his helmet. Within the next two seconds or so, the purple and black armor disappeared into a backpack and now he was sitting there in his regular clothes: khaki colored pants, red shirt and his blue SFIT sweater.

When the change finished, he gazed up sideways at Hiccup who looked really intrigued but conflicted at the same time. Hiro felt amused by his new friend's constant curiosity, but he could wholeheartedly understand him.

''I still can't believe that no one in this… well, timeline has ever thought about putting a hood on a tunic." mumbled Hiccup while slowly shaking his head.

''Really?! I just literally changed outfit in a matter of seconds and you want to know about my hoodie?" asked Hiro incredulously, emphasizing his outrage with his hands. He felt a bit hurt too, he was the one who made the entire programming and everything for the mechanics, so his invention deserved some notice at least.

Hiccup snorted.

''Well, I thought I would start questioning you of the simple-looking stuff first. Unless randomly transforming clothes are an everyday thing where you come from and this… _hoodie_ is like the something only _you_ can have…" retorted Hiccup with a small smirk. The viking felt satisfied seeing the 'genius-boy's' face morphing into a sheepish smile.

''If you put it that way…" mumbled Hiro while averting his gaze. Damn Viking and his surprisingly clever mind.

There was a small silence that was broken by Hiccup.

''Sooo, hoodie?" asked the boy while nudging Hiro's side. It seemed to shake him out of whatever thought he was in.

''What? You don't have anything like this around here?" asked Hiro with a raised eyebrow, while pinching his hood for the viking to see.

''No, when we need something to cover our head, we usually put a cape or a cloak on ourselves." explained Hiccup, looking fascinated when he noticed how the hood and the sweatshirt was sewed together.

''Huh, well, there you go. Feel free to take notes, I suppose." shrugged Hiro, while starting to unzip the clothing to give it to the viking to see it for himself. He didn't get too far, as an red armored hand stopped the zip halfway, making both boys look up at Baymax questioningly.

''I would not advise taking your sweater off, as the current temperature is enough to cause sympthoms of: The Flu and: The Common Cold to appear in minutes. The current temperature is: 10 Celsius degree. Please, keep your sweater on until we get back to our time, Hiro." said Baymax, almost scoldingly. As the robot withdrew his hand, Hiro wore an annoyed pout on his face, and with one movement, he zipped his sweater back then crossed his arms.

''There, you happy you big marshmallow?" asked Hiro while trying to ignore the shy yet amused smile on the viking's face next to him.

Unbeknownst to him, that smile didn't last long as Hiccup froze upon hearing the word 'Marshmallow'.

''I am a robot, I cannot be a marshmallow, as I am made of vinyl and carbon fiber not a sugar-based candy. Although people do associate my non-threatening, huggable appearance with the mentioned candy often." replied Baymax while tilting his head. This gave Hiro an idea.

''Speaking of candy, Hiccup?" asked the boy from the future as he looked at the the viking, managing to shake him out from whatever thinking process he was stuck in.

''Huh?"

''Do you know what 'an allergy' is?" asked Hiro curiously. Hiccup stared at him the same way when they first saw each other.

''Erm… a kind of marshmallow?" asked the viking with an awkward smile and a shrug.

''Huh, figures." Then Hiro turned towards the robot.

''Baymax, code: reconfigure."

After hearing the command, Baymax stiffened out, his limbs spread out to resemble something like a star. The red armor steadily started to fold itself starting from the leg area, until nothing was left but a red and purple cube at his stomach area. Then this cube was replaced to Baymax's back and disappeared into the robot, leaving Baymax in his regular look.

Hiro looked unfazed while both Hiccup and the now awake Toothless tilted their head and their slightly agape mouth at the sight. Hiro had to stop himself from making a side-comment about double standards.

''Baymax, could you scan Hiccup and tell us anything about him, please?" asked Hiro, a small all-knowing smirk appearing on his face.

Baymax slowly toddled over the viking who stood up in alert. Hiccup looked at the still sitting Hiro and saw that he seemed to know what was about to happen. That kind of soothed him, but he was still spooked by what Hiro could have meant by 'scan Hiccup'.

''Hello, I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion. I will scan you now." said the robot as Hiccup braced himself for anything to happen.

''Scan complete." Hiccup made sure to check his body if he was intact. He missed Hiro rolling his eyes as the boy started petting Toothless next to him absentmindedly. The dragon was not complaining.

''You have several small cuts, bruises, first degree burns and epidermal abrasions all over your body. I would suggest the use of bandages, mint creams and antibacterial sprays with a lot of rest. Do you want to receive a treatment now?" asked Baymax while showcasing all the wounds on Hiccup's body.

The viking suddenly felt all eyes on him from his left and became self-conscious.

''N-no, but thanks." stammered Hiccup while nervously scratching his forearm and trying not to look at Hiro and Toothless. He didn't need to, he knew that he would find two pairs of concern filled eyes.

He was actually right, the other boy and the dragon did look at him and the picture on Baymax's belly with worry, creating a semi-awkward silence after Hiccup's answer. Hiro and Toothless shared a look then and both nodded, communicating that both will make sure to ask about these wounds later (even though Toothless couldn't talk but he had his ways of communicating). Hiro started to get used to basically treating the dragon as a fellow human.

''Baymax, what is Hiccup allergic to?" asked Hiro as he turned his head back to the viking and robot.

''Hiccup is allergic to: dog fur, bee sting, penicillin, and hazel. Hiccup also has a minor sensitivity to gluten and also shows signs of: hay fever and weather sesitivity." concluded Baymax.

As he listed off the things, Hiccup grew slightly worried of all these things he was 'allergic' and sensitive to, since he had no idea what the robot was talking about but it couldn't be good. Meanwhile Hiro was completely dumbfounded. How was the guy still alive with so many allergies? He was struggling with avoiding peanuts on a daily basis, he couldn't imagine a life while trying to avoid all these things. And jeez, weather-sensitivity and hay fever together? That sounded like a dangerous combination.

''Is it that bad?" asked Hiccup with a voice lighter than he intended to. In his defense, when he looked at Hiro's wide eyes full of disbelief, he kind of started worrying that an allergy is just a fancy word for 'deadly disease'.

''Until you make sure to avoid dogs, hazel and bees, you should be fine. You would get this puffed up red skin that is just so itchy when you touch any them, ugh, it's horrible." said Hiro with a pained face, ending his monologue with a shudder.

Lest to say, he did not help Hiccup's worries, but the viking noted how Hiro seemed like he was talking from experience, meaning that he could have an allergy to something too.

''I... I will keep that in mind. What about the rest of them though? With the hay and the weather?" asked Hiccup, having no idea how can someone have a sensitivity to such a thing.

Hiro looked down at his feet, his gace morphing into a thoughtful one.

''Well… do you get headaches and get kind of… disoriented just before a storm hits?" asked Hiro slowly, trying to find the right words. Hiccup chewed on his lip and looked up in consideration, but soon he nodded. He did notice that he gets the listed sympthoms and more before snowstorms hit Berk, but he didn't pay too much mind as he filed it to him being a klutz.

''That's weather-sensitivity for you. Next up, do you sneeze when, like, spring is coming and you are in the woods or something?" continued Hiro, wincing slightly when he realized how simple he sounded. He didn't really know much about hay fever but he knew that people usually sneeze a lot around flowers and stuff when they have that.

Much to his relief, Hiccup nodded.

''Yeah, but it's not like we have spring here in Berk. We have nine months of winter and then three months of a… slightly weaker winter." snarked Hiccup, successfully getting a snort from Hiro.

''Now I know that I will definitely not live here… anyways, what do you think of Baymax? Impressive isn't it?" changed the subject Hiro while holding his arm to his abruptly silent companion.

''It is kind of helpful to finally put a name on some of the weird and random things I usually get, but to be honest, I-I kind of don't know… It would have been better if he told me something I knew well, you know? Like, something I can verify?" admitted Hiccup while looking at Hiro.

''Isn't it enough that Baymax knew about your other injuries? Obviously, you didn't want them to be discovered." asked Hiro with a questioning eyebrow.

''Yeah, but we are vikings, pity injuries like this is so common, he might as well said that the sun is bright." retorted Hiccup, a bit enjoying the fact that he could frustrate the other boy. Just a tiny bit.

But Hiro was determined, and a determined Hiro isn't easy to beat.

''Then… How about…" Hiro narrowed his eyes and bit his lip in concentration as he looked the scrawny viking up and down.

''… that scar there?" said the boy from the future as he pointed to the visible scar on Hiccup's right cheek.

''Hm? Oh, that may work though." said the viking as he subconsciously put a hand over the aforementioned scar. Hiro's eyes lit up upon hearing the confirmation and turned towards his robot companion.

''Baymax, your turn."

Upon hearing the command, Baymax stared at Hiccup's right cheek while his hyperspectral cameras zoomed in. After five seconds or so, Baymax's eyes returned to normal and he put up his fact-stating finger.

''That scar on your cheek has been healed for a long time. The skin and the muscles around it seemed to have been altered, which means that you have gained this scar at a very young age and you have grown up with it. From the shape and the depth, it is undoubtedly came from an animal, more than likely a predator species' claw. I have no treatment for your injury, I am sorry." said Baymax, making Hiccup go wide eyed in awe.

''Y-yes! I got this scar when I was newborn basically. They told me a dragon got into the house and tried to kill me, but my mother saved me… right before she was taken…" mumbled Hiccup, his voice changing from enthusiastic to downright somber. He managed to make the air so tense, that Toothless, who decided to just simply listen to the conversation while napping, snapped his head up and cooed at his humans.

Hiccup suddenly felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Hiro, now standing up and giving him a sympathetic look.

''I'm sorry for your mother." said Hiro sincerely.

Hiccup emitted a small smile.

''It's no problem, I don't even remember her so it doesn't hurt that much." admitted Hiccup with a dismissive hand wave.

''Well, if it helps, I lost my parents when I was three so I don't really remember them either." admitted Hiro while averting his gaze. It wasn't that big of a touchy subject to him, but it wasn't a happy one either.

''Both of them? Who took care of you then?" asked Hiccup softly, finding a new found fondness to the other boy.

''My brother Tadashi and my Aunt Cass. For as long as i have memories, it was always us three. Aunt Cass would give us all the love she could muster while Tadashi would make sure to play the overprotective nerd brother. It was perfect…"

The nostalgic and sad smile on Hiro's face made Hiccup want to do something, anything comforting. That is, until he heard the last sentence.

''Was?" asked the viking cautiously. It sounded more like a whisper. He inwardly cringed when Hiro lost his smile.

''Yeah… Half a year ago, Tadashi was killed in a fire. He ran into a building, trying to save someone's life…" Hiro's voice gradually become hoarser and hoarser and he ended his sentence with an audible gulp. A single tear ran down his left cheek and unbeknownst to him, he started hugging himself. The memory hurt less now, but it still did and it caused reactions like these to occur every time he remembered, but they were getting subtler and subtler.

Hiccup was speechless and found himself unable to do anything. This guy, Hero, has been through so much and he looks younger than Hiccup himself! Granted, Hiccup had to endure the same pain, but he was a viking, so there was no excuse for moping. Hero… wasn't. Yet Hiccup was positive that the boy in front of him was stronger than any viking from the Archipelago.

Before Hiccup could decide what to do, both of them were envellopped in a hug by two vinyl hands. Hiccup yelped and his eyes snapped up at Baymax in surprise while Hiro seemed to let out a small smile from the gesture, but didn't look at the robot

''Both of your neurotransmitter levels have fallen to a low level, indicating that you are in emotional distress. Treatments include: companionship and physical reassurance. It is also alright to cry, crying is a natural response to pain." said Baymax while starting to pet Hiccup's hair.

''It's alright, there, there…"

Suddenly, they found themselves in darkness. When Hiro and Hiccup glanced around, they saw a pair of wings blocking their view of the outside world, wrapping the two boys and Baymax in a cocoon. They also felt two, scaly paws at the back of their necks, hugging both of their faces to another belly. They looked up and saw Toothless's face peering through the wings. Wide, cat like eyes filled with love and concern looked at the both of them while the dragoon crooned and licked both their heads soothingly.

And for just a second, it was just the four of them. The Dragon, The Viking, The Genius and The Robot. Hiro and Hiccup wouldn't admit it, because it would be quite sappy and cheesy, but they felt a bond forming. A strong bond of friendship, that would definitely have to endure challenges, but they had some trick in their sleeves.

Of course, the moment was broken when Hiro's wrist suddenly started to blink rapidly. Said boy groaned loudly, which was enough for Hiccup and Toothless to get back into reality and break the hug. Toothless sat down next to Hiccup on his hindquarters, looking at the light curiously with his rider.

''What's that?" asked Hiccup, his voice is a tad bit weak from the emotional moment.

Hiro didn't reply, instead he folded the sleeve of the sweater back, proposing a wrist band. He pressed a button at the underside of it and a hologram came out. Hiccup and Toothless recoiled, not expecting for something to jump out.

''It… looks like 8 hours have passed already. We should get home." said Hiro with his shoulder slumping and a disappointed frown on his face.

Hiccup, ignoring the fact that it must have been magic that Hiro just did, looked equally as sad. He finally had an other human person who he could talk to more than 10 seconds and someone, who didn't judge him by his appearance. Someone, who knew some of the pain the young viking had to survive.

He finally had a friend.

(Granted this friend of his hasn't been born for a long time…)

Suddenly a question popped up in his head.

''Hero… You come from the future, right? How far future are we talking about?" asked Hiccup, making Hiro look up from his magical wrist thingy.

''Erm…. a thousand years. I know, it sounds far more unbelievable now, but…" mumbled Hiro as he closed his hologram, went over to his hidden purple disk and uncovered it from the leaves with Baymax by his side, completely dismissing the rest of the sentence and the conversation altogether.

Hero had no idea how wrong he was. With the marshmallow comment and now this info, Hiccup finally realized who this boy really was. While Hero was busy fiddling with his machine, Hiccup took out a paper from his tunic, the same paper onto which Gothi made him write the 'prophecy' down'. Toothless made a questioning sound as Hiccup started quietly read the poem again.

 

 

_Almond eyes,_

_full of spark,_

_a marshmallow dream._

_1000 years,_

_almost there,_

_your kin brother's here._

 

 

Now he understood.

First of all, Hero did have weird looking eyes, so whatever almond was, it had the same shape as his eyes.

Second, _marshmallow dream_ must have meant Baymax, as Hero called him 'a big marshmallow'

And now thirdly, _a thousand years_. This prophecy outright told him that Hero was Hiccup's brother in kin, how he looked, how far in time he would come from and apparently that he would be helping Hiccup solve his problem. Hiccup made a mental note to thank Gothi.

Now that he realized, yep, he had a problem. Hiccup managed to forget that he was in a tight, 'life-and-death' kind of situation while he was having the most fun he has ever had. But if the prophecy is true, then Hero would be the one who would help him and Toothless solve this problem. The only question left was the 'How?' now.

The answer could wait, as suddenly a portal with a weird color opened on the ground in front of Hiro. Said boy stood back up while looking down at it with a satisfied smile. He really hoped that they would end up at the exact same time when they stepped in and not sooner or, god forbid, later. He really didn't want to show and explain anyone his machine at the moment, nor in the near future as it would take at least an hour if he was 'lucky' enough to meet someone who understood science. He was actually quite tired as well, now realizing that he has been awake for straight 20 hours now. Baymax has yet to comment on his lack of sleep, which was actually big surprise but he wasn't about to make a comment on it and jinx it.

Hiro glanced back at the viking and dragon, both who seemed far less taken aback of the random phenomenon than they should have been. He took it as a sign that they started to get used to weird, 'unexplainable' things happening around the Hiro. The boy found his other backpack close-by, the same in which all the food, clothes and medical stuff were that Baymax insisted on bringing. In the end, he didn't need any of them as he spent most of his time in the sky. He was a bit hungry though, but it seemed that his lack of sleep decided to now make an appearance, making him forget his hunger and focus on getting home as soon as possible.

He semi-sleepily approached Hiccup and Toothless while trying to fight of a yawn.

''Well, I guess we'll see each other soon." said Hiro, enjoying the way both Toothless's and Hiccup's eyes lit up in hope.

''You mean… you'll come back?" asked the viking with a hopeful smile.

''Of course. You are in a pretty tight situation and me and Baymax fully intend to give you a helping hand in it. When did you say was that exam of yours when you had to kill that dragon?" asked Hiro while rubbing his left eye.

Now even Toothless was looking at Hiccup questioningly. This was new info to him.

''Three days tops. Unless my father comes back sooner and finds out how big of a _dragon slayer_ his son turned out to be. Then whenever he comes back." replied Hiccup sarcastically while soothingly petting the snout of his dragon.

''We will try to be there… soooo…" trailed off Hiro as he proposed his fist. Hiccup looked at it in a confused manner, but then remembered the gesture Hiro and Baymax did when the viking told him he would believe him being from the future. He made a fist and awkwardly bumped it into Hiro's own. Said boy did a sound that mimicked an explosion, which Hiccup tried to follow too, which ended up kind of uncertain. It felt useless and childish to the viking but strangely fun at the same time.

Hiro was about to exclaim, probably about how Hiccup is starting to get it, when Toothless approached and looked at Hiro's fist curiously. The boys could see mild calculating on those cat-like eyes. Then Hiro watched as the dragon leaned in and sniffed his fist, Toothless's warm breath slightly tickling his skin as the dragon exhaled. Then the most amusing sight in history happened: Toothless raised his left forepaw and touched Hiro's fist momentarily, giving him something equivalent of a dragon fist bump. Hiro and Hiccup laughed at the dragon's antics, earning the famous gummy smile. What a tension breaker this was.

''He's awesome." sighed Hiro as he started rubbing circles on the top of the dragon's snout, getting a pleased purr from the reptile. If somebody told him 24 hours ago that he would befriend a viking and meet an actual dragon and then get away with petting it, he would have assigned Baymax to the guy/gal and try to cure pure craziness out of their body.

Hiccup remained silent as he watched his new friend (or as it turned out, kin brother. What this meant was still unclear to the viking), and his best friend interact. Using the word 'friend' felt strange to think and tasted different, but he liked it. Hiccup now had two, well, creatures who didn't make him feel unneeded, three if you count Baymax in. For the longest time, Hiccup didn't feel useless, instead he felt something else.

_Belonging_. That was the feeling called.

For a moment, Hiccup was tempted to ask Hero whether they could join them and go into the future. To escape this forsaken timeline, this fosaken wet rock called Berk and all its people. He could start a new life maybe, get used to the future and show that those hands of his could create useful things too.

But that moment passed as problem after problem came to his mind. He would probably feel homesick and guilty and coming with Hero would probably cause complications. He didn't want to be a nuisance for his first real human friend, especially after seeing how well him and Toothless got along. This also meant that hurting Hero would result in hurting Toothless too, which was the final argument against his sudden idea.

He was shaken out form his thoughts when a big pile of white vinyl appeared in front of him. Hiccup looked up to see Baymax's completely neutral face directed at him.

''I am sorry for the loss of your mother." said the robot, his voice containing a slight change in tone, making it sound like it had sympathy in it.

''As I said, It's okay but thanks. Will you promise that we will meet soon though?" replied Hiccup while patting the balloon man's hand.

''Would promising our return soon improve your emotional state?" asked Baymay with a tilt of his head. Hiccup could already feel himself getting used to the robot's continuous need for verbal reassurance, which was weird. He should feel a pang of annoyance, yet the innocent and uninformed way Baymax asked the questions made Hiccup's mind relax and his patience grow. If it were someone like Fishlegs, who was always need for information and assurances, he would probably be deep frowning now.

''I think it would." replied Hiccup sincerely.

He and Toothless watched the robot walk towards the portal where a barely awake Hiro was already waiting. With a two fingered salute and a circular-motioned wave, the boy and the robot jumped and disappeared into the abyss. Right after that, the portal closed and the purple disk that Hiro did things to while Hiccup was confirming his theory was gone too.

The viking looked at the place where the portal was sadly. He watched as his dragon went over and gave a guttural whine while trying to claw the earth there. When Toothless gave up, he scorched the earth in that spot and cured up there.

Hiccup sighed. After saying goodbye to Toothless, he headed in the direction of his village.

* * *

On his way back, Hiccup had time to welcome reality back. As the first huts and buildings came into his view, his gloomy mood increased. He knew that he was alone at the moment, now he was back again being 'Hiccup the Dragon Slayer' as some in the village has started dubbing him. He has to get ready for the continuous cheers and praises that are aimed at something that isn't Hiccup.

As he approached his house, he already heard shouts and some congratulations from random vikings around, but he didn't pay them any mind. He already missed flying with Toothless and if he were honest, he missed Hero and Baymax too. The only thing that made it easier is the promise that they will be back, which was Hiccup's last hope. Until then, he has to face a proud Gobber, a suddenly nice Snotlout, a geeky Fishlegs and Astrid who…

…just happened to be leaning on the wall of the forge with a furious and impatient expression on her face and an axe in her hand.

Good to see you too reality, you are a great friend.

'' _HICCUP!_ " came the horrid feminine scream of Astrid Hofferson as she marched up to Hiccup, took him by the collar of his tunic and pinned him to the wall of the forge, knocking the air out of his lungs.

''H-hi Astrid." greeted weakly Hiccup as he tried to recollect some air. He soon found himself eye-to-eye with Astrid's axe, her furious face behind it.

''Where were you again?! You've been missing the whole day! You were training, don't even try to deny it, I just know it. And you are going to tell me where and who you were training with **THIS INSTANT!** ''

Hiccup tried not to comment on Astrid's breath smelling like fish, which was really hard after being shouted at like that.

''T-training? W-what are you talking about?" stammered Hiccup uncertainly with an awkward chuckle. That seemed to be the wrong answer.

''I know you are training secretly and I'm going to find out everything sooner or later. No one becomes this good in such a short time, especially not someone who breaks everything when he touches them. This means you have somebody to train you or you are just plain cheating. Now, tell me who. you. are. training. _with._ "

Yep, this girl needs to use mint more often.

Hiccup really tried to dodge somehow, but there was no way he could lie himself out of this situation as Astrid was not a fool. The next step would be Hiccup's defense mechanism, sarcasm. It did come, but with how good of a day he had and how Astrid managed to spit on it, he felt greatly annoyed now.

The combination of his defense mechanism, annoyance and the other circumstances managed to make something snap in the viking boy.

''Why would I?" replied Hiccup dismissively with a scoff. Astrid's eye twitched, but Hiccup didn't miss that face of surprise that was on her face for a moment.

''Because I'm Astrid Hofferson, and I'm not going to lose to someone like-''

''Like me, huh?"

This interruption managed to shut Astrid off, as once again, she did not expect Hiccup of all people to talk back to her. Especially not with the hostile tone he used.

It made her blood boil.

''Now listen to me you walking twig-''

''NO, you will listen to me **NOW!** '' shouted Hiccup as he managed to escaped Astrid's grasp. He really should have stopped if he wanted to live 'till tomorrow, but this new-found confidence was like a river now. It needed to come out of the mountains and it was unstoppable.

''You know what your problem is Astrid? You don't respect anyone!" accused Hiccup, making Astrid recoil back. She really wasn't expecting Hiccup to use such a tone against her.

''And what's that supposed to mean?" retorted Astrid with the same raised voice.

''That you think you are Miss perfect warrior, who must be better than anyone, and the only way you can be beaten is by tricks and lies, right? Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but it's time for you to open your eyes and realize that you are not without mistakes. Your lack of respect to everyone is actually a painful thing to watch, especially how you think that everyone is lesser than you!"

Hiccup had to admit, he felt a weight disappearing from his shoulder as he threw word after word to Astrid. He had to also admit, shouting at her and seeing a tiny bit of guilt and shame in her eyes was satisfying on some level.

''I respect others…" her reply was nothing but a weak mumble.

''You do? Oh, that's rich. Let's see, you don't respect Snotlout, while everybody can see that he will be a great warrior once he drops his ego, you don't respect Fishlegs while even the blind could see that his brain would be a tremendous advantage in and out of the battlefield, you don't respect the twins, who while could be seen as nothing but mad, they do try to be useful in their own way! And the least of all, you don't respect me, and that's why your mind is so set on thinking that a I, the worst viking alive must use tricks to defeat the mighty Astrid Hofferson, right?"

He saw shame overtaking fury in her expression, and her jaw clench as she considered saying something in retort. Hiccup felt bad a bit for telling her off like this, but in hindsight, she kinda a deserved it and both of them knew he was right. He suddenly wanted to apologize, but he knew that doing so would make all his newly found confidence and progress evaporate, so he put on a straight face and looked her in the eye.

Before anything could happen, a third voice spoke up.

''Um, Astrid, how about you leave Hiccup alone?"

and a fourth one.

''Yeah, like, right now?"

Hiccup and Astrid turned their heads and saw Ruffnut and Tuffnut walking towards them with their arms crossed and an uncharacteristical frown on their faces.

''And why would I do that?" replied Astrid, her voice sounding hostile yet weak.

''Because the chief came back and he wants to have a word with you." replied Ruffnut while pointing towards the direction of the docks, making her brother nod.

''Yeah, it seemed pretty important." said Tuffnut, making his sister nod.

Astrid watched them silently for a short time then huffed and stormed away towards the docks without looking back. She was muttering something under her nose, but nobody could catch any. As she disappeared between the buildings, the twins' expression's changed to the one of those borderline maniac grins.

''Oh. My. Thor Hiccup, that was AWESOME!" exclaimed Tuffnut while him and Ruffnut jogged next to the dumbfounded boy.

''W-what?" stuttered Hiccup as he rapidly switched between looking the twins incredulously.

''Yeah! The way you shouted at her and how she actually shut up was legendary! Where did that come from?" asked Ruffnut, her face looking almost proud.

''Erm… I don't know. I guess I had a good day for once and I didn't want her to mess it up?" asked Hiccup uncertainly. It wasn't technically a lie, he did have a fantastic day, but he would rather not tell about the parts about Hero, Baymax and most importantly, Toothless.

He didn't miss the knowing smirk the twins shared.

''Yeaaah, about that…" started Ruffnut.

''You see, we want to make a deal with you." Finished Tuffnut, both of them looking sly as ever. Hiccup was actually worried what this could mean.

''What kind of 'deal'?" Hiccup was actually worried what this could mean.

''Well, let's just say we saw you, those Shapeshifter guardians of Loki and the Night Fury today, flying and doing tricks and stuff." replied Ruffnut, making Hiccup's blood freeze.

''I saw you first though." cut in Tuffnut looking proud.

Ruffnut didn't share this sentiment with him.

''No, _I_ saw him first. You were complaining about Snotlout when I spotted them taking off."

''No, _you_ were complaining about your hair getting grass in them when _I_ spotted them." retorted Tuffnut, their helmets clashing and fighting as they both started arguing.

''I saw them first!"

''No! I did"

''I did!"

''I did!"

''I did!"

While they were bickering, Hiccup seriously contemplated sneaking away. If these two knew about Toothless, Hero and Baymax and told, trouble may be closer than he thought. What stopped him now was the 'deal' they proposed (plus the fact that they still haven't told anyone while here they are, saying that they saw him taking off, which was hours ago).

Their fight started to get off-topic and Hiccup really didn't need them getting unnecessary attention, especially if the topic was this important. So he took both their arms, surprising them greatly and dragged them inside the forge. Much to his relief, Gobber wasn't there at the moment. He was probably at the docks, welcoming Stoick and the rest of the nest hunters back, which gave Hiccup and the twins enough time to talk about this deal of theirs.

As Hiccup made sure no one was eavesdropping, he turned to the twins.

''So. You know about Toothless, Hero and Baymax?" asked Hiccup, straight to the point.

His answer was two raised eyebrows, which made him realize that they may not know their names.

''The Night Fury and the rest." this clarification seemed to be enough as they both eagerly nodded.

''Yeah, and we want to make a deal with you." replied Tuffnut, Ruffnut agreed wholeheartedly.

''Okay, shoot." urged Hiccup, trying not to think about all the things they would have to make him do for keeping their mouth shut.

''We want to meet the Night Fury and the Shapeshifters." said Ruffnut bluntly, like this is an everyday thing.

''Yeah, and get us a dragon too." added Tuffnut while nodding his head.

That was not the answer Hiccup expected.

''Y-you want dragons? Why?" asked the scrawny viking, still flabbergasted of the sudden turn of events.

''Duh, what did every Thornston in history love more than anything?" asked Tuffnut with a mysterious grin on his face. His sister looked at him questioningly for a moment before she seemed to realize where he was going and mirrored her brother.

''Erm… things blowing up?" guessed Hiccup uncertainly.

''Exactly! Things blowing up. And with dragons, imagine all the possibilities." continued Tuffnut while making a big circle with his hand, emphasizing his point. He looked really enthusiastic, which was oddly contagious.

''*Sigh* all those destruction waiting for us!" sighed Ruffnut dreamily.

Hiccup started to feel mixed by this new situation. On one hand, giving a dragon to these two may not be a very good idea. IF Hiccup somehow managed to open some of the vikings' eyes and maybe let dragons live among them (he should rename himself for Hiccup the Dreamer), then the twins and a dragon would be a potential danger for the well-being of the whole village, the people inside it, the dragons and of themself too. On the other hand, them not spilling all his secrets would be much more than welcome and if it only takes jeopardizing the safety of village…

Well, how much damage could two teenagers do really?

(A lot it turns out, but Hiccup kind of made up his mind at this point)

''I mean, _sure_ … It won't be easy though. Getting a dragon isn't a piece of cake, you know. We could get hurt." tried to reason Hiccup, then he realized just who was he talking to.

''Oh Thor, you are right! I can finally get the mauling I always wanted!" exclaimed Ruffnut while she snapped her head to her side and looked at her brother giddily.

''Don't forget the burning too!" replied the just equally excited Tuffnut. His sister gasped dramatically.

''Odin, how could I forget _that_?"

Hiccup looked between the two blondes and chuckled nervously. He may have really just doomed Berk altogether, that is, if these two don't end up dying before they could do anything harsh. Not… the most likeable options, but Hiccup guessed he could make do. As the twins continued listing of the ways they could get themselves see Gothi the fastest (or Valhalla if they are lucky), Hiccup wondered where did this sudden companionship came from. Granted, there wasn't that much bonding, being nice and stuff like some would guess, but Hiccup figured that in the case of the twins this was a magnificent improvement and a half. Still, there was a nagging voice at the back of his head demanding an explanation of the sudden change in heart.

''Erm, guys?" asked Hiccup meekly, reminding the twins of his presence. The moment his voice interrupted them, they turned towards him and raised their eyebrows questioningly.

''Not that I don't appreciate that you didn't tie me to a tree or something, but why are you being… well, not-not nice?" asked Hiccup, trying to find the words that wouldn't get himself to be the weirdest leaf of the highest branch possible.

He was surprised seeing the twins excitement disappear and actual nervousness appearing on their faces.

''Um… well… we just wanted to, kind of… you know?" said, well, more like tried to say Tuffnut, struggling with forming actual coherent words. His sister wasn't faring well either, but she at least stayed silent and tried to emphasize Tuffnut's non-existent point with her hands.

Hiccup blinked at them like they grew another head, but kept silent. Tuffnut and Ruffnut seemed to struggle for a bit more before both of them trailed off, stopped and gave Hiccup an awkward smile, probably hoping that he got the message. When they saw the 'What in Thor's name' kind of face on the scrawny viking's face, they sighed simultaneously.

''We just want to say… that we… a-are… s-so-s-sor… sor-sorry!" exclaimed the twins, immediately collapsing on the ground while panting like they just sprinted miles.

''Maaan, this 'apologizing' thing is _so damn hard!_ " complained Ruffnut while breathing harshly, his brother giving an agreeing grunt from next to her. Hiccup was actually worried that saying the word 'sorry' could be lethal to these two in the end.

''Wait, you mean… you came to apologize?" asked Hiccup cautiously, not believing it for a second, even though the twins were acting pretty persuasive. After recovering, Ruffnut decided to speak up first, her voice barely above a whisper as she averted Hiccup's eyes.

''Well… after seeing you ride that Night Fury, befriend gods and realizing that you managed to trick an entire village and made them think you are a talented dragon slayer, we decided that you are the coolest, most awesome-''

''Don't forget craziest!" cut in Tuffnut.

''-craziest person in this village. And us, Thornstons only follow people who are awesome, crazy-''

''-blows stuff up-''

''-and can make Astrid infuriated to a point when steam comes from her ears. So we want to say…" she trailed off, sharing a look with her brother before continuing.

''…that we are s-sorry for not realizing your awesomeness sooner and for all of those pranks we did and… we want to make up for it." admitted Ruffnut, his brother slowly nodding next to her.

Okay, this was a way of killing Hiccup's skepticism and all his rational thoughts altogether. The twins, who are famous for easily making any person annoyed and furious in a matter of seconds and then not feel bad about it at all, even have the nerve to laugh into the person's face, just apologized to him, the village runt, celebrity for now, and actually sounded _**sincere**_. Hiccup still didn't want to completely believe it, but a look on both faces told him that they did mean it, even if the words still sounded very Thornston-like. A wave of happiness and relief went through him and he let out a small smile.

''Thanks guys… I really appreciate it." replied Hiccup honestly while subconsciously nodding and relaxing his posture.

''Hey, don't get all mushy on us, you are supposed to be awesome and god-like." scolded Ruffnut, all sincere emotions disappearing from their faces.

''Sooo, is it a deal or not?" asked Tuffnut, eagerness evident on his face.

Hiccup chuckled and nodded, making both twins cheer loudly. they were about to clash their heads together in celebration when Tuffnut stopped mid air and put a stopping hand on the horn of his twin's helmet

''Hold on. Just to be clear, are you an actual god? Cause that, y'know, would change things between us." asked male twin curiously while pointing back-and-forth between Hiccup and him. Ruffnut groaned and hit his brother on his forearm hard.

''No, you idiot, Hiccup is obviously not a god. He doesn't have any cool powers for Loki's sake!"

''Well, he has gods for his friends and the deadly offspring of lightning and death itself too, plus he blows things up suspiciously easily." replied Tuffnut, making Ruff halt and think about it. She quickly looked back at the bewildered Hiccup and looked him over.

''Are you a god?" asked now Ruffnut with her hands on hips and a frown on her face. Tuffnut did his best to mirror her pose.

Hiccup groaned and buried his face into his hands.

''Why do I feel like neither of the answers would end this debate?"

* * *

 

  **Year 2032, San Fransokyo, USA**

 

Meanwhile in the future (or present), Fred's mind was working overtime. He could not believe what he just witnessed and heard.

Roughly ten minutes has passed since the departure of Baymax and Hiro, and Fred was pacing to and fro for the last six of them (the first four was spent with watching that piece of floor where the portal was). His mind was trying to digest that Little Man, the smaller brother of everyone in their group has just made the impossible happen and built an actual _time machine_. And to top it off, it looked like it worked.

And it was heckin' AWESOME!

The main thing why Fred was currently struggling to keep a calm mind was because one side of him wanted to think of all the possibilities him and the gang could do now, while the other tried to figure out how to tell the rest of his friends, especially Hiro, that he knew of the time machine. He overheard Hiro saying why he kept it a secret, and Fred understood completely, but it just made it all the more exciting!

They could do so much! They could even go back and save Tadashi, then stop Callaghan in that timeline again and then return to the present, where Tadashi was alive! Fred was almost entirely convinced that this was why Hiro built the machine, but then he realized that the Little Man also made this blue, fireproof perfume-y stuff, which contradicted his hypothesis. Why would Hiro waste time making the fireproof liquid if he could just go back in time and undo the past? Probably because he was a good kid and wanted to help people, plus it was a good cover for his other project! But wait- not it cannot be, this would be too big of a cover and Hiro wasn't stupid enough to waste all this time developing something revolutionary just for the sake of distraction. Maybe Hiro wasn't even thinking of saving Tadashi? That could be a confusing possibility, but a possibility nonetheless.

And how the heck is Fred going to keep Hiro's secret, while he was itching to share it with the rest of the gang?

It was too much for Fred. So much indeed, that in his frustration, he didn't notice a turquoise hole appearing at the same spot on the floor. He only noticed something happening when Baymax was spat out and landed on his backside while making a sound when someone scratches a balloon.

''Hello, Fred." said Baymax as he cautiously stood up. The wide-eyed Fred noticed that Hiro was sound-asleep in the robot's arms, with a content smile on his face.

''Yo, B-baymax. What's u-up?" asked Fred, chuckling weakly while trying to play it cool by leaning on the wall.

Baymax tilted his head.

''Your heart rate has abnormally increased while you have also started sweating and making unnecessary movements with your limbs. You are also doing something called 'stuttering' and the muscles on your face that allow humans to smile are in their unnatural places. All these sympthoms indicate that you are: hiding something." concluded the robot as he walked in front of Fred. Hiro stirred in his sleep and hugged Baymax's hand closer to him.

''Me? NO! What are you talking about?! I mean, W-why would I ever…" Fred trailed off upon realizing that he didn't sound convincing at all. Even Hiro wore a questioning face, and he was sleeping. Fred pouted a bit and then sighed exasperated.

''I-I saw you guys jump into the portal and overheard everything you said before." admitted Fred while hanging his head in shame.

''Me and Hiro has been in Hiro's machine for: eight hours, eleven minutes and thirty-two seconds. May I inquire why did you wait for us through this time?" asked Baymax while his belly showed something, but Fred couldn't see it from the sleeping form of Hiro.

''Wait, 8 hours? You have been away for maybe a quarter, tops." questioned Fred as he raised his head in surprise. Baymax's 'eyes' started to focus in and out while a mechanical sound come from the robot's body

''Interesting. According to the internet, between the beginning of our trip and the current time is exactly thirteen minutes and forty-eight seconds, which does not match with my calculations. I will have to ask Hiro how this anomaly is possible." said Baymax as he looked back down at Fred.

''What were you doing in an other timeline for 8 hours though?" asked Fred with a raised eyebrow.

''I believe this information should be shared by Hiro, who has been awake for twenty hours and six minutes exactly before his high melatonin levels made him reach REM-sleep. I advise asking questions tomorrow morning when he is in a rested state of mind and body." replied Baymax, which Fred translated to the robot's way of avoiding the question.

''Okay big guy, how about I give you a ride to your crib then?" proposed Fred while starting to walk towards the exit of the room while putting on his backpack that contained his mascot costume.

''It would be appreciated." and with that, Baymax followed Fred towards the exit with Hiro and his backpacks in his arms.

Meanwhile said boy was dreaming of dragons, Baymax and one particular scrawny viking.


	4. Friends in Need are Friends Indeed

**Year 2032, San Fransokyo, USA**

There were three things that went through Hiro's head the moment he woke up.

First, that he will definitely do something about the annoying fainting after traveling through his machine. These headaches are _not_ worth it.

Second, that when he tried to go back to sleep and snuggle into his blankets for comfort, he was actually doing that instead of laying on a cold stone surface, like he did when he woke up on Berk.

Third, that he has to see whether his actions a thousand years ago has changed anything in the present _immediately_. As cool as dragons are and as awesome as Toothless is, he really didn't want to see said reptiles flying around outside when he looked out of the window.

This was the reason why instead of sleeping in, his eyes snapped open and looked around his room frantically as he sat up. Everything seemed to be in its place so far, but it did little to soothe Hiro. He got out of the bed as quickly as possible and rushed over to the nearest window with the little energy, sleepiness and the symptoms of his travel still present in his body.

After opening his window-blinds and ignoring the sudden morning light, he scanned the outside:

Cars - Check

Passer-bys – Check

No dragons – Check

No vikings – Check

Overall everything as he remembered – Check

Only after a second looking through did Hiro sigh in relief and close his blinds to keep the offending light out. He slumped back into his bed and finally let out a smile as the memories of yesterday came back and flooded his mind. Hiccup's familiar curious personality, Toothless's adorable cat nature and the beauties of Berk from high up in the sky. Hiro could still remember how fresh the air tasted without the modern day pollution and how cool it was on his skin. He also remembered the warmth of Toothless's breath and his scales as Hiro touched it for the first time and let this small electric feeling surge through his own body and relax it completely.

But the memory that really stood out was the feeling of sharing the excitement and the freedom of flying. It was a tremendously amazing experience and Hiro wanted more.

Back to reality, he realized that he almost fell asleep while he was nostalgizing. He started to seriously debate whether he should give in to the temptation of his bed, but sadly, fate had something coming for the boy.

His phone started buzzing.

Hiro let his hand wander to his nightstand instinctually where he usually put the device, and was shocked when he didn't feel it there at all. After confirming that his nightstand didn't have a chip of phone on it, he realized that the buzzing came from his pants.

Wait. Why did he still have his regular clothes on? Shouldn't he have changed to his nightwear when he arrived ho-

He doesn't remember arriving home. He doesn't even know how he got here _at all_ now that he thinks about it. Hiro's eyes snapped to Baymax's station and almost panicked when he found it empty. Something was clearly amiss, and he needed to find out what it was.

So with that, he took out his phone and saw the name 'FRED' on his screen. He moved to sit on the edge of his bed and was about to accept the call, when much to his annoyance, it ended. Hiro was about to exclaim, when the number 76 appeared on his screen.

_76 missed calls from Fred_

Baymax missing, Hiro being in his normal clothes in his bed and Fred trying to reach him for an hour now? Hiro decided that enough is enough and went to investigate. He already knew that it was only 8 o'clock and weekend, so there was one person he could interrogate right now.

''AUNT CASS!"

After a slight delay, he heard hurried footsteps knocking on the staircase that led to his room and soon, the smiling figure of Cassandra Hamada appeared.

''Well, look who's awake so early! My little genius." cooed Aunt Cass as she made her way towards Hiro, ruffled his messy hair and sat next to him.

''Yeah, I guess I had more than enough time to sleep." shrugged Hiro, nonetheless smiling from his Aunt's contagious bubbliness.

He was about to say something else, when he was envellopped in a loving hug. If there was one person Hiro didn't mind accepting or even hesitate returning such displays of affection was his only remaining family. (And maybe Baymax too, but most of the time he didn't have much saying in it.)

After the incident with Callaghan, Hiro had to realize just how strong was his aunt the whole time. Looking back, the boy could still remember her face when she tried to brighten up his mood by urging him to see Mrs. Matsuda while bringing him food so he won't starve himself in grief, just so she could be rejected for the nth time. Her face was straight and neutral but Hiro has realized that she was restraining herself, so she won't brake down crying in front of him. She wanted to be strong instead of Hiro _and_ for Hiro too. She was purposefully suffering for his sake, all because Hiro decided that closing out the world was the right thing to do after Tadashi's death. And Aunt Cass was the one who complained that she was not a good enough parent.

She was, and still is, Hiro's hero

''Sooo, do you want me to bring you breakfast? I still have an hour 'till the café opens." suggested Aunt Cass kindly as she broke the hug.

''No, it's okay. You go ahead and get ready for the day, I will make something. Erm... by the way, have you seen Baymax around?" asked Hiro while nodding his head towards the robot's empty case.

Aunt Cass suddenly averted his gaze and looked sheepish. The alarm in Hiro's mind started going off.

''Aunt Cass… _Where_ is Baymax?" asked Hiro, now cautiously.

''I… may or may not have asked him to deliver something for me, hehe." admitted Cass while playing with her hair, earning a raised eye brow from Hiro.

''You asked a medical robot to be your mail-man?" asked Hiro incredulously. He almost winced how hypocritical he sounded after he made the healthcare robot into a superhero and was pursuing crime with it daily.

''Hey! He wasn't going back to his case-thingy and I didn't know if robots could get impatient or bored so I gave him things to do." retorted Cass defensively.

Hiro would have scolded himself for not teaching her sooner how Baymax worked, but he caught the last part of the sentence.

''What do you mean 'things to do'?"

Upon hearing Hiro's question, Cass looked even more guilty.

''Let's just say that the café has never looked cleaner!" chirped up Aunt Cass, an awkward smile on her face. Hiro groaned and facepalmed.

''Unbelievable."

After his exasperated reply, his aunt started giggling on the notorious Hamada exclamation that she was so familiar with. She has basically grown up with it as she always made sure to annoy Maemi, her beloved sister at every waking hour. To further the similarities between Maemi and her son, Hiro, both reacted to Cass's antics with a smile on their faces that both tried to fight _especially_ hard, but it seemed neither knew a losing battle when they saw one.

The moment was broke when Hiro's phone started buzzing again. He grabbed it and saw that it was, once again, Fred calling.

''Any idea why Fred is pestering me?" asked Hiro while turning towards his aunt with a questioning eyebrow.

''I don't know, but he's been sitting in the café for some time now if that helps." informed Cass with a shrug, making Hiro's eyes widen in surprise.

''Wait, what? He's here?"

''Yeah, I tried to ask him but he only thing said that he wants to talk to you and that it's urgent." replied Cass, looking just as clueless and confused as Hiro.

''But… I don't understand… Fred's house is at the other side of the city, how could he be here?" asked Hiro while refusing the call.

''Oh I can explain that part! He was sleeping in the guest room last night. After he and Baymax brought you home from the university, I insisted on him staying the night here. It's not a problem, is it?" asked Cass, ending his question slightly worried as he saw Hiro's calculating face.

''N-no, it's fine… I just wonder what was he doing at the university so late at niiiight." said Hiro as he stood up and stretched upwards, getting an audible 'pop' sound as a reward.

''Well, why don't you ask him? No time like the present." urged Cass as she too stood up and started walking towards the staircase. She stopped before she could take the first step downstairs and looked back with a soft smile.

''I will tell him to stop _pestering_ you and that you will be down in 10, okay sweetie?"

''Sure Aunt Cass, thank y- Oh one more thing." said Hiro hastily, making Cass stop midstep and look back at him.

''Yes?"

''If you want Baymax to go back to his 'case-thingy', you have to tell him that you are satisfied with your care, word by word." said Hiro with an amused smile.

''That's all?! And I was making poor robot uncomfortable while trying to find his 'off' button the whole night…" drawled Cass with an annoyed glare at the floor.

''He's a robot, he cannot feel uncomfortable. He was probably trying to figure out why you were looking at him strangely." informed Hiro as he started rummaging through his drawers in search for clothes that he wasn't wearing for more than 24 hours now.

''I will keep that in mind next time. Love you sweetie!" said Cass as she started walking downstairs, her voice sounding more and more distant the farther she went.

''Love you too, mom!" shouted back Hiro, too distracted with the triumph of finally finding a whole set of clothing that he could wear after the shower he was about to take.

He was so distracted, he failed to realize what he just called Cass. Unbeknownst to him though, said aunt _did_ as she stopped in her step upon hearing her being addressed as 'mom' for probably the first time since she became Hiro's guardian. The boy also missed the huge smile on her face and the silent squeal that she made as she picked up pace towards her café.

Hiro finally found a clean towel that he could use when he noticed voices and strange sounds coming from downstairs.

''Hey, um, Aunt C." that was Fred's voice. What was he doing up there and why did he sound like he doesn't know where he is?

''Yes, Freddie?" that was his aunt's voice, followed by a loud thud.

''Hehe… I don't know what's Big B's problem, so I thought maybe you or Hiro could tell me what's happening."said Fred's voice, as sounds of plastic being hit and shuffles could be heard. Hiro started to suspect what happened.

''Gooood Morning! Aunt Hiro, I have suc- _successfully_ delivered your Mochi to you personal healthcare Fredzilla. I will scan you naaawww…"

Yep, Baymax is on low battery.

''Argh, JUST BRING HIM UP!" shouted Hiro towards the stairs as he folded his clothes and towel on his bed neatly. He heard quiet mutterings and plastic being shuffled that started sounding closer and closer every second. Hiro sat on his bed and leaned back, his hands propping him up as he waited for the thin and drunk form of Baymax and the green beanie of Fred to appear.

After hearing several more struggles, wood being hit and thuds, Baymax literally somersaulted to Hiro's floor, followed by a panting Aunt Cass and Fred. Hiro stood up and quickly went over to help them put the robot back up onto his feet.

''Helloo _Hiroo~_. I am a toothless healthcare dragonnn…" slurred Baymax as Hiro put the robot's one hand around his own shoulder, Fred taking the other while Cass was pushing the robot from the back.

''Hello Little man *pant* fancy meeting you." greeted Fred while enthusiastically waving as they started walking with the slurring robot towards his case.

''Likewise, I guess." grunted Hiro as Baymax tried to fall over on his side.

They kept silent as they managed to put the robot into his station, who immediately stopped moving and slurring, straightened out and started inflating.

''Huh, man! That was freaky." broke the silence Fred with a grunt.

''Why was he doing that?" asked Cass, searching for answer on Hiro's face.

''He was on low battery. Even supercapacitors can't survive more than a day of continuous work." replied Hiro while looking at his aunt knowingly. Cass blushed slightly in embarrassment.

''But why is he acting like me after I go a long ride on the merry-go-round at the central playground?" asked Fred in a confused manner.

''Why are you going to the central playground?" retorted Hiro in a questioning face, Aunt Cass mirroring it as both were looking at Fred.

''Why wouldn't I? The place is cool and fun, especially at night!" replied Fred enthusiastically, a huge smile on his face. Hiro snorted and accepted the answer while Cass looked more clueless than ever.

''Never mind then. So, It's a glitch basically. His movements should start becoming slower and disoriented while his voice should become deeper the less battery he has. The glitch makes his normal and his intended behavior on 7% power mix together, resulting in what I like to call a 'Drunken Baymax'." explained Hiro, his face changing into an amused one.

''Why haven't you fixed it then?" asked Fred with a raised eyebrow. Hiro smirked.

''Why would I? It's cool and _fun_." retorted Hiro, wiggling his eyebrows as he saw Fred's face becoming of surprise as he heard his own words directed towards him.

Aunt Cass giggled lightly before ruffling Hiro's messy hair.

''Alright boys, I have a café to open, so… I'll be on my way. Make sure that Baymax is charged up and call if you need anything." said Cass as she started walking downstairs, the boys waving after her.

As she disappeared, Hiro sat down in his computer chair with a spin while Fred slumped back on the younger boys' beanbag.

''So what's up Little man?" asked Fred casually as he relaxed into the bag.

''Oh nothing. You know, the usual – waking up sooner I have ever done, Baymax not being where he should be…" listed off things Hiro sarcastically before he proposed his phone, unlocked the screen and showed the notification of the 77 missed calls to Fred.

''…and a totally acceptable amount of missed calls." continued Hiro with a deadpan look. Fred chuckled nervously.

''Sorry bro, but you know how I am."

''Yeah, enthusiastic about life, just how we love you." sighed Hiro as he spun his chair again with his legs casually. When he returned, his face was questioning as ever while he watched Fred act innocent and look at random spots in the room.

''So, what's up." asked Hiro, keeping his voice patient.

It was like dropping the tiniest flame inside a bomb.

''Tell me about your time travel machine!" exclaimed the school mascot while leaning towards the taken aback boy with an eager expression. Hiro couldn't find his voice as he realized just what Fred asked, and was about to try thinking of ways to escape when a third voice cut him.

''Hiro." said the now fully charged Baymax as he left his station and walked over to the two boys.

''Fred already knows about your project, he has witnessed both our leaving and returning from the other timeline. I wouldn't advise the use of dishonesty as it could lead to negative consequences." informed the robot. Hiro turned to Fred for confirmation who eagerly nodded as he waited for the answer. Upon seeing that he really had no way of lying his way out anymore, he sighed and decided to start from the beginning.

''I have already told you what happened on the other side of the gate that Krei built, but at the time even I didn't realize just how significant 'Silent Sparrow' really was. Krei basically made a wormhole to another part of the universe! That was revolutionary and nobody has realized it. So, I took it upon myself to utilize all the possibilities with the tech. Thankfully, Krei was more than willing to share the calculations, construction plans and everything that made it possible for Silent Sparrow to be made. It was weird that he just gave such a project to someone like me, but I think he just wanted to have as much distance between him and the whole thing as possible. Of course, I didn't have the sources to rebuild it, so I started planning a much smaller gate. Then I started polishing the plans, fixing calculation, planning errors, yada yada... Then, when I was doing some research on wormholes and black holes, I stumbled upon a page connected to time travel and… I got an idea." explained Hiro, ending it with a cocky smirk as he leaned back in his chair.

Fred looked elated while listening to the story, and urged Hiro to continue with frantic nodding.

''You could say that I put a bit of the 'Hamada flair' into the Silent Sparrow project and the result was tested last night. Speaking of which, what happened after we came back?" asked Hiro as he looked between his friends.

''Oh, you kind of fell asleep and I offered Big B a ride home, then Cass offered me to crash in the guest room and since I already wanted to talk to you, I thought: 'Why not?' I would have come here first thing in the morning anyway." shrugged Fred, Baymax giving a thumbs-up as to confirm what he said.

''Well, thanks for that. So, where was I?" asked Hiro while nodding.

''You were about to tell me about your journey." replied Fred, suspiciously quickly. Hiro was pretty sure that it wasn't true, but he already expected Baymax speaking up.

''This statement is: false. None of Hiro's words or expressions has indicated that he would continue talking about your assumed story of the other timeline." informed the robot while tilting his head towards the pouting Fred. Said mascot gave the biggest pleading eyes to Hiro he could muster, which made said boy chuckle goodheartedly.

''Dude, you are a grown-up man basically. You have lost the ability to make effective puppy eyes a long ago." snarked Hiro, making Fred crestfallen, although the boy could guess that Fred was consciously enforcing it.

''But that doesn't mean I'm not going to tell you either way." continued Hiro, making the mascot go back to his enthusiastic self again. Fred was definitely not one to hide his emotions or he was just simply humoring Hiro.

''May I suggest something?" cut in Baymax as Hiro opened his mouth to start his tale. Both boys looked at the robot questioningly.

''I have made several: pictures and: high-quality videos of the events. I can showcase them if you want." said Baymax, his belly lighting up and displaying a picture of a sleeping Hiro on a rock and several pictures of the cove they ended up.

''Dude, that's mega-cool!" exclaimed Fred as he basically glued his face to Baymax's belly.

Hiro chuckled at his friend's eager reaction. What the boy really liked about the school mascot was that he never questioned the _why_ of things, he just goes with the flow and accepts it with great enthusiasm, especially if it is connected to science. If it were Wasabi or Gogo, the boy would have to answer the obvious question: Why does a medical robot have high-tech cameras built inside?

Sometimes, they forget just who built _this_ Baymax.

Coming back to the present, Hiro dragged himself and his chair over to his friends and watched the slideshow, while occasionally explaining some of the pictures and answering some of Fred's questions. There were pictures of the cove, Hiro, Hiccup, Hiro and Hiccup, the island from the air, Hiro in his battlesuit in air, Baymax and Hiro in air, and in the middle of a trick. There were all high-quality and honestly top-notch pictures, but something caught Hiro's eye. Baymax was only showing pictures on which Toothless was not present at all. Was the robot doing that on purpose?

Baymax seemed to notice Hiro's questioning eyebrow and instead of blinking, only one of the robot's 'eyes' closed and open.

Did Baymax just… wink?

The wide eyed boy was so taken aback, he decided to avert the robot's gaze and keep on looking at the pictures where he was sure something was about to appear that would change the mood immediately.

Oh boy, was he right.

A video started playing, but not just any video. At first, it was only showing Hiro, still half asleep and muttering something barely audible when Baymax's finger appeared and silenced the boy. Then the camera turned in a 90 degrees to the left and Toothless appeared with his black, sleek body and wings as big as himself.

Hiro could hear Fred's jawbones stretching when it hit the floor after a few seconds, and the expression wasn't even far from the truth.

The video continued, showing Toothless cautiously making his way towards Hiro, wildly sniffing the air the whole time. The boy actually felt proud, seeing how professionally he handled the situation, though that girly yelp he gave when he spotted the dragon was a bit embarrassing. Soon, Toothless was sitting in front of Hiro's extended hand, looking hesitant and unsure of what to do. This hesitance disappeared altogether when the boy turned his head away, and the reptile pushed his snout into Hiro's palm. It even looked like the whole video's lightning brightened when the boy lost all nervousness and started petting the reptile.

Yep, Hiro could still feel the connection forming from a third point of view and through the camera. It was a memory he would cherish for a really long time and he suddenly had an urge to go back and give that dragon a good scratch.

As the video ended, Hiro wanted to see Fred's reaction, but the mascot seemed to be frozen in place, not a muscle moving. It was the same reaction Hiccup had when he told him about his and Baymax's origins, so Hiro was less worried now. The boy was about to inquire about Fred's well-being, when the other teenager's head slowly turned towards him, his expression not changing the whole time.

''What… was… that?" asked Fred slowly while pointing at Baymax's now blank stomach.

''That, my friend, was a real life dragon. His name is Toothless. Turns out, they are very real and the vikings were pretty familiar with them." replied Hiro, trying to sound confident and cocky, but the lack of any reaction from Fred started to worry him and it crept into his voice.

''And you… touched it? For real?" the fact the the school mascot's voice was light and weak started raising alarms in Hiro's head.

''Yeah… you okay, dude?" asked Hiro cautiously, sending a glance at Baymax and hoping that the robot would give some insight on what is happening in Fred's mind. When he looked back, Fred's face was like he has been just told that his dream invisible sandwich was possible to make.

''DUDE! WE GOTTA TELL THE OTHERS!" screamed the mascot as his phone just magically appeared in his hand and was already putting the rest of the gang's numbers in a group call. Hiro had around one more second to catch the guy's wrist before either the screen broke from the rapid and harsh typing or the group call could be actually made.

''NO!" shouted Hiro as he forced Fred's arm away from the phone. The school mascot stopped altogether and looked at Hiro in shock. After a tense second, the boy let the wrist go and sigh of relief.

''There is a reason why I didn't tell any of you about my project." said Hiro honestly, making Fred's posture relax.

''I know. I heard it all last night, and I totally understand. Don't worry little man." replied Fred sympathetically, though for Hiro it looked more than suspicious.

'' _Oookay_ … So the moment you leave this room, you won't immediately call the others, _right?"_ asked Hiro, giving as much emphasis to the 'right?' as possible. Fred smiled kindly.

''Nope. You can trust me little man." replied Fred as he suddenly stood up and pocketed his phone.

''So, I had _blast_ , I think it's über-awesome what you did and now I know the whole story behind your mysterious disappearance, which was the reason why I came here. So, I'll be on my way to meet up with the gang and to not talk about your time travel-y stories. See ya later, Little man."

And with that, he disappeared downstairs before anyone could process anything.

Hiro and Baymax watched him go and blinked in a synchronized manner at the stairs. The boy wondered how could someone be that fast while their favorite hobby is to _read comic books._

''I have a hypothesis." spoke up Baymax after a lengthy silence.

''None of what he said is true?" retorted Hiro with a raised eyebrow without changing his gaze from the staircase.

''I fail to see how letting Fred tell the others would help you keep your project a secret, as I find the concept contradictory." stated Baymax while turning towards the boy sitting in the chair.

''He's Fred we are talking about. If there is something connected to superheroes, monsters, dragons, science or all of the above, he will go long distances to get them. He would have told the others sooner or later, so now we just hope that they will take it as well as he did." replied Hiro as he stood up and picked up his change of clothes and towel. In truth, he was more than a little bit bothered by Fred trigger-happy mouth, but there is really not much he could do.

''Could you set a stop watch for 9 minutes and 30 seconds, please?" asked Hiro as he headed towards the stairs. He looked back to see Baymax's belly showing '9:30' with big numbers.

''May I ask what's the purpose of this?" asked the robot with a tilt of his head while the countdown started.

Hiro snorted.

''I have a feeling that when this reaches zero, we will get a call from a specific group of people." and with that, he was off to the bathroom.

* * *

**Exactly 9 minutes and 22 seconds later.**

Hiro was currently in the middle of finishing the drying of his hair (which took up most of the boy's bathing time) when his phone started buzzing on his nightstand.

''It seems that your assumption was correct." came Baymax's monotone voice. The robots blunt comment made Hiro chuckle as he used his free hand to pick up the phone. He saw that it was a group call/video chat and the faces of his friends were illuminated in circles around the accept and reject button. He sighed, accepted the call and prepared himself for the incoming wave.

'' _Oh, thank god Little man you accepted, could you tell them that I'm not crazy!"_ pleaded Fred as his and the other three's face appeared. Fred was undoubtedly calling from the street outside the café as the background showed shops and trees that Hiro knew, Gogo seemed to have been interrupted while she was exercising, Wasabi looked like he was still at home and was lying on his sofa with Princess snuggled into the crook of his neck, and Honey Lemon must have been in SFIT as her laboratory was in the background and she wore her lab coat. There was Hiro's own face in a circle as well, with his slightly wet, messy hair and all.

''You know perfectly well Fred that I cannot lie to our friends, y'know, morality and stuff." retorted Hiro, a betrayed look from Fred as he waved a greeting.

'' _We are not talking about his general personality, Fred here started babbling about how you built an actual time machine, went back to the viking era and that dragons are real and you met one."_ supplied Gogo with an annoyed expression on her face. She usually tolerated Fred's geekiness, but it seemed whatever happened, it managed to step over her boundaries.

'' _Yeah, and he was way more excited about that than usual. We thought he finally lost it."_ added Wasabi, his face troubled. Well, there is the answer to the previous thought.

'' _He even said that Baymax showed you a video where you touched a black dragon. We are worried that he might have misunderstood something and we don't want him to be disappointed."_ said Honey Lemon in a confused, worried tone. Hiro knew that she and Wasabi were the most caring of the group (if you don't count Baymax), so they must have felt worried for Fred.

'' _In the end, he_ _insisted that you can confirm everything, and before any of us could blink he was already putting you into the group chat. Sorry, by the way, even I wasn't fast enough to react."_ apologized Gogo, an awkward smile on her face replacing his annoyance. Hiro appreciated her little joke in the end, but now it was his time to start talking.

''Don't worry guys, Fred hasn't completely lost his mind - yet. I can show you my time project and tell you all about it if you want." offered Hiro as he put his phone down to his nightstand so he could continue drying his hair with both hands.

'' _Oh, no-no-no, we don't care about the time travel stuff, we believe that. The dragon part is what made us question Fred's sanity."_ cut in Wasabi while shaking his head, Honey Lemon mirroring his actions.

''What?" asked the boy with wide eyes while momentarily stopping the drying process and looking at his friends questioningly.

Gogo snorted and rolled her eyes.

'' _You are Hiro Hamada if you didn't notice. Callaghan always lectured every new kid that the SFIT always pushed the boundaries of robotics, and you always take this several steps too far and actually succeed somehow. I can talk in everyone's name when I say that if there was one person we would believe that they actually built a time machine, it's you Hamada."_ explained the raven-haired girl as she threw two gums in her mouth and started chewing them.

The other three was nodding after her statement.

'' _The dragon part is what they are so stubborn to accept. Tell them Hiro, PLEASE!"_ Fred did sound miserable enough for Hiro to brush away his sudden flattered state from his friends' belief in him and get straight to the point.

''Well, I can get Baymax to send the video to all of you." replied the boy, while looking at Baymax and nodding. Soon the robot's belly lit up, showing four empty bars with 0% and everyone's picture in little circles next to them. Those lines soon started filling out and reached a hundred, when Hiro could hear the others' telephone notifying them of the new message.

'' _Hold on, the video is real!?"_ asked Wasabi taken aback as he sat up from his lying position. Honey Lemon looked quite baffled as well while Gogo raised a questioning eyebrow as she decided to ignore everyone and start the video. Fred was the incarnation of relief as Hiro could see him leaning on the nearest wall and taking a deep breath.

''Yeah, and for once, Fred's unthinkable stories and ideas are reality." replied Hiro as he finally finished the drying of his hair. He instinctually brought his right hand up and ruffled it thoroughly, tiny droplets of water leaving his fur. The result was his signature messy hair everybody knew and he smiled when he looked at his head in the group call. He cared for his looks, but in a meaning that he wanted to look acceptable to himself not to others.

While he was busy making sure that he looked like he always did, he failed to notice the call going dead silent. He also failed to see how intensely Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Gogo were watching _something_ on their screens.

As she was the first one to start the video, Gogo reacted to Toothless's appearance first. Her reaction was restrained as always, but if someone knew her well, they would have known that Gogo was in between surprised and shocked. The way she stopped chewing her gum and her mouth slightly parted, how she let her purple part of her hair hang in front of her face and not brush it away, and how her eyes narrowed slightly were all signs that she was not believing her eyes.

Wasabi was the next one to react, with probably the unmanliest yelp such a big man could muster. After his yelp, his entire visible posture tensed as he put his fist in his mouth and started gnawing on it nervously, while concern, fear and disbelief was fighting for a dominant position on his face. It was like he was watching some intense horror movie where his beloved protagonist got wounded and decided to distract the cause of horror to gain time for his group.

Honey Lemon, the moment the black dragon appeared on her screen, gasped in surprise and covered her mouth. Her eyes and face, contrary to Wasabi, was dominated by one emotion and only one: Mild Concern. She even seemed to be leaning towards her screen subconsciously, making her worried features clearer than ever.

Fred was just… well Fred- _ish._ He has already seen the footage but he watched it again nonetheless and just as intensely as the others, with a wide grin on his face. It was painfully obvious how elated he was of seeing such a creature which was amplified by the fact that for once, he was _right_ and the others were _wrong_. Dragons _did_ exist and who knows, maybe they still do somewhere hidden. Now that gave him some ideas.

Hiro only came back to reality when Gogo audibly groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

'' _Out of all the things…"_ mumbled the raven haired girl before shaking her head in half amusement, half disbelief.

'' _See guys?! I am not crazy!"_ shouted Fred gleefully after seeing probably the hardest-to-convince Gogo believe.

'' _I don't think even you believe that statement."_ retorted Gogo, finding satisfaction in seeing Fred's celebrating mood falter when he had no comeback.

'' _When I saw that picture of a bulky Fred riding a sabertooth tiger shirtless, I thought my brain couldn't have hated my eyes more, but now I'm scared that I will dream of divorce papers and when I wake up, I will find my eyes packing up to leave."_ cut in Wasabi, his face frozen but his voice was clearly stating how awed he was.

'' _So dragons are… real?"_ asked Honey uncertainly, her question clearly directed at Hiro.

''Trust me, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't just met one last night. He is basically an overgrown Mochi once he drops predator-animal mask." answered Hiro fondly with a smile on his face.

'' _Why do you sound like you are planning to go back?"_ asked Gogo with a raised eyebrow, resuming her gum chewing.

When they saw Hiro's face go sheepish and how he hesitated with his answer, everyone knew the answer.

''I… I kinda promised to return, so…" trailed of the boy, earning narrowed (and one excited) pair of eyes as a reply.

'' _Hiro, as amazing as this is, is it really a good idea?"_ came Honey Lemon's voice, silencing everyone's incoming arguments. Hiro blinked in confusion and focused on the girl in question.

''What do you mean Honey?" asked Hiro warily. He really had no clue why it would be a bad idea to go back besides the obvious concerns.

'' _Well, I don't know much about science fiction, it's more of Fred's zone, but even I know about the Butterfly effect and such."_ Explained Honey uncertainly, getting agreeing nods from his friends, even Fred stopped grinning upon hearing her reasoning.

'' _Yeah, you could kill a fly there and come back to a completely different world. It's pretty dangerous."_ agreed Wasabi wholeheartedly.

Gogo seemed to be waiting for Hiro's response and Fred didn't offer a counter-argument, which may have meant he forgot about the Butterfly effect altogether. But Hiro had an ace in his sleeve for such questions.

''You guys are right, and I wouldn't do it if I weren't sure that we won't have any problems like this." said the boy, catching everyone's interest.

Hiro smirked in triumph.

''I landed in precisely 1032 on a viking island, inhabited by vikings, _duh_. But according to history, they were doing viking-ish things until the end of that century, when they just… stopped." explained Hiro with a shrug.

''Turns out, the island that I and Baymax landed on should not have even existed, since today it is only in myths and legends. These legends say that this island's vikings were _riding_ the dragons and defending people from pirates and stuff. Turns out, in 1032 nobody was riding them, instead there was a hobby of _killing_ them, or so I've been told." the fact that even Gogo was taken aback slightly was enough for Hiro to know that his story is nothing but engaging and the plot twist is unexpected.

''So, I think that something happened along the lines to make their views change in 180 degree, and that is quite suspicious that this was why the vikings stopped pillaging stuff. I could imagine half a century being enough for people to befriend dragons and settle down." explained Hiro, halfway realizing that he was not making a point at all.

'' _So?"_

''What I mean is that the only thing I could do that would have any kind of influence in our history is messing up the friendship between dragons and humans which would still result in dragons dying out but the island would never make it into the legends. Helping the process wouldn't do that much harm either." ended Hiro, slightly out of breath as he hadn't realized that he spoke the last sentences with one breath.

The boy expected to see some kind of understanding or anything, but instead he got confused looks and uncertain gazes.

'' _Bro, it's nice and everything, but you just told us an excuse. We still don't know why would you continue it."_ retorted Wasabi questioningly. Hiro tried to retort but his answer stopped in his throat as he realized that the man was right.

''Oh… well, the guy I met, he told me a lot of stuff about himself and it was obvious he needed help. That's what we do as superheroes, don't we? Help the people in need?" asked Hiro convincingly, hoping that his friends would just agree with him. He saw Honey Lemon's and Gogo's features soften upon hearing his reasoning, which gave him a dose of confidence to continue.

But there was something present in his gut that deleted this burst of confidence at once and made him halt. He suddenly felt really bad, like the 'I lied and I'm ashamed' kind of bad. But, he was telling the truth! Hiccup needed help and as a superhero, he was obligated to help, wasn't he? Then, why was he feeling like what he said was a complete lie?

…or, not a lie _perhaps_ , but a half truth maybe? Or that he wasn't telling the main reason just the thing that helped him decide?

Hiro suddenly felt conflicted as he replayed that particular conversation with Hiccup. Did he really agree to help _just because_ he was a superhero or because…

…Hiccup was his friend in need?

''…He told me that he is literally stuck and if he doesn't get any help, he would either have to betray his best friend or… be banished from his home. And… as strange as it is, he became my friend and I can't allow that to happen..." admitted the boy honestly yet solemnly, while averting the others' gaze. He failed to witness how touched everyone became of his sudden admission.

'' _You do know that if the viking dudes managed to make buddies with dragons, than this guy of yours probably found a solution, right?"_ reasoned Wasabi, although Hiro could hear and see when he looked up for a moment that it may have been the last argument everyone had against his doings.

''I know but… he also needed a friend. He told me that he has 'useless' as his second _given_ name, that's how little everyone in his village thinks of him. In this kind of situation, I think every one of us would feel bad if they just up and left, no matter if the guy managed in the end or not.'' said Hiro tensely, holding up a hand to his right to stop Baymax from coming over to comfort him. He didn't need comfort, he just needed understanding from his team.

There was a small, tense silence in the call, that was broken by Honey Lemon.

'' _Well… I mean, if there would be no bad consequences, it is a great opportunity, right? To see the vikings in real life and maybe those dragons too."_ commented girl nervously yet optimistically, managing to brighten the mood by some.

'' _Yeah, and we could be part of history too! How awesome that would be."_ added Fred enthusiastically, which was famous for being oddly contagius in the right moments.

These and Hiro's earlier admission seemed to be a trigger as warm smiles spread across everyone with acceptance and relief evident all over the faces.

'' _Alright, Hamada, you got us."_ broke the silence Gogo with mischief in her eyes.

Hiro, who has been stubbornly avoiding to look back at his friends, snapped up in surprise.

''Wha-''

'' _Yeah, bro. If you really think that it is something you must do, then we are with you. Just… don't die or anything, alright?"_ said Wasabi while Princess appeared on the picture and gave a small bark towards the camera. Hiro could swear that she was agreeing too somehow.

It would be an understatement to say that Hiro didn't feel immense gratefulness towards his friends. Once again, he was assured that he had the best group of friends ever.

''Wow… I mean, thanks guys… it means a lot." his body even had the guts to blush, earning amused snorts and chuckles from his friends.

'' _If you need any help, just call us and we'll suit up and kick some millenia old butts, be it viking or dragon."_ supplied Fred, feeling just as relieved that everyone was in it together.

Suddenly, five simultaneous blipping could be heard from all sides of the call. Everyone knew what this sound meant.

Trouble was in San Fransokyo and the Big Hero 6 was needed.

On Hiro's side, his purple backpack containing his armor was the thing emitting the sound. He made a dash for it and hastily put it on.

''I guess that suiting up would be sooner than we thought." mused Hiro as he looked back at his phone and saw everyone getting ready, Wasabi and Honey already leaving the call.

He himself ended it too as he looked at Baymax who was silently petting Mochi, but was watching Hiro nonetheless.

''There is a robbery at the Union Bank on Post Street." supplied Baymax while his belly lit up, showing the map of the city and the exact place the aforementioned robbery is taking place.

''In that case, Baymax, I have two words to tell you." said Hiro while bringing his finger to the button on his left shoulder strap.

''Code: redesign." and the button was pressed.

* * *

**Year 1032, Faroe Islands, Berk**

''You guys stay here while I prepare him for the surprise. Wait for my signal and **then** come out, understood?"

''But that's so laaame."

''Do you want to get blasted by a startled Night Fury?"

''HECK YES!" ''HECK YEAH!"

''*sigh* You couldn't meet those 'shapeshifters' and get your own dragon if you do."

''…Now that I think about it, it may not be a good idea."

''Nope, uh-uh."

''Good, so are we agreed?" came Hiccup's stern, impatient voice, making Toothless huff in amusement. It was quite funny for the Night Fury that even Hiccup managed to underestimate his natural animalistic skills.

At first, Toothless could smell Hiccup, which made him happy, but then his nose detected two, quite similar yet different scents as well, which made him worried; Hiccup could have been followed for all Toothless knew. But then, their voices reached the dragon's ears and Toothless was just left confused when he heard Hiccup telling to these two new humans about him. The dragon tried to figure out why would Hiccup share things about Toothless to other vikings, as the new scents were definitely not Hero or Baymax. Then, as the voices approached from the direction of the entrance of the cove, Toothless decided to listen to the conversation.

It began with Hiccup telling instructions on what to do and what not to do in the presence of Toothless. This was understandable, the dragon would blast both of them the moment he deemed anyone dangerous to him or Hiccup. Soon, Toothless realized that these two humans were not the smartest of the branch and quite possibly masochists as well, but the dragon found great amusement listening to Hiccup trying to reason with them. Toothless decided that his next favorite hobby was to listen to these newcomers and Hiccup bickering. It was funny, but not as funny as the realization that his poor boy thought that Toothless had human-like hearing, which is why they were still whispering and thinking that the dragon had _no idea_ that they were here.

Toothless was thinking of surprising them, but he was curious of the two humans, who deemed to be trustworthy enough for Hiccup to show them his friend. These two, contrary to Hero, were definitely vikings, yet the metalic scent of the weapons were absent once again, meaning that Hiccup has already prepared them. Toothless felt proud, flattered and annoyed that he would meet two humans who he couldn't have fun scaring them. He kinda missed seeing those big and ugly vikings running away from him like wee lambs.

He was laying down on his usual scorched spot while pretending to be napping. Soon, he heard a single pair of footsteps entering the cove and approaching him, meaning that his boy was true to his word and was about to 'prepare' the dragon for a 'surprise'.

''Bud?" asked Hiccup lowly while putting a single hand on his snout. Toothless faked a yawn and blinked his eyes open to make his fake napping more believable. Then he went over to his boy and nudged him with his snout while softly cooing a greeting at him, which was rewarded by blissful scratches on his neck and snout.

''How is my favorite dragon doing?" asked Hiccup with a smile. Toothless rolled his eyes and snorted of his human's trial at teasing.

''Yeah, I know, you are the only dragon I know, you don't have to be snob about it." replied Hiccup with a small chuckle.

Toothless puffed his chest out and took up a proud posture at the insult-hidden-compliment, which made Hiccup snort and mumble something about 'egoistic dragons'.

But something was wrong in Toothless's eyes. To be more accurate, something was amiss… something important…

…

Wait.

Where is the basket of cod Hiccup always brought him?!

''Yeah bud, about that… today, it won't be me who brings you the fish, but-''

_SNAP_

_CRASH_

_THUD_

''Woah!-''

THUD

Both Toothless and Hiccup snapped their heads towards the entrance of the cove where the shield, that has been stuck in between the walls since Hiccup's first visit, has broken into two and the new human vikings were there, on top of each other, laying on the ground. Both of them wore two baskets of what the dragon remembered were used to store the delicious cod, but now the aforementioned food was escaping the basket and pouring itself on the two viking's heads.

Hiccup groaned.

''-but… _those two."_ ended his sentence Hiccup as he motioned towards the newcomers.

''YOU IDIOT! Hiccup specifically told us to wait for his signal, then come over!" complained a male voice while one of the humans punched the other.

''It's not my fault that your head is too hard and it broke the shield!" countered a female voice while the other human reciprocated the punch.

''Maybe if you didn't throw me into the shield, it wouldn't have broken!"

''Then maybe you should have stopped annoying me!"

Toothless was too confused to even growl a warning or do anything, he just watched the two, alike vikings start a verbal and literal war that involved punches, kicks and headbutts.

Hiccup was faceplaming and continuously sighing in disappointment.

''I didn't annoy you, you were in my private zone and you were stinking! I was trying to push you away."

''It's not my fault that these walls are too close to each other! And it was you who stank, but you were too stupid to realize it!

''Maybe if you stayed behind me and not be stubborn about trying to 'get a better look on the Night Fury!"

''Guys…" tried to cut in Hiccup, without success.

''If you would have been nice and gave me some space, then I wouldn't have had to throw you through the shield!"

''I was about to give you some space, but someone is a little too impatient for that!"

It was at this point, that Toothless could hear an exasperated sigh from Hiccup.

''Bud, would you please help out?" asked Hiccup, his voice indicating that he was clearly not enjoying their bickering.

Toothless gladly complied with a loud growl, finally shutting up these two. Both the vikings looked up in shock and Toothless was baffled; they both had the same face! But they were a boy and a girl, if their scent was any tell. Can humans clone themselves, but into another gender? That's… fascinating for sure. Where is female Hiccup then?

The lookalike vikings quickly wiped the dust and the fish away from their clothes and stood up awkwardly next to each other, while keeping two wary, yet curious and admiring gazes on the dragon.

Toothless felt satisfied with a result, especially when he felt Hiccup relax.

''Okay. Ruffnut, Tuffnut, this is Toothless." then his boy turned towards the dragon. ''Toothless, this is Ruffnut and Tuffnut, my friends." introduced Hiccup slowly.

Toothless wondered whether Hiccup really just had bad friend-making skills.

'' _Guys_ , you didn't bring any weapons or eels, right?" asked Hiccup his new friends, who, now that Toothless gives a penny to the thought, almost had the same name too.

Said 'friends' nodded eagerly and proposed the baskets.

''Yeah, no eels as you told and we left our axes at home." said the male-voiced lookalike.

''Only pure Icelandic cod and salmon." says the female-voiced lookalike.

''Okay, now bring one to him as a peace offering. Then let him take the first step." instructed Hiccup, his hand resting on the dragon's head, which was quite soothing if Toothless were honest.

The lookalikes (he will settle calling them that) eagerly proposed one-one fish, discarded the basket and started running towards Toothless and Hiccup.

Before the dragon could growl a warning, Hiccup put a hand in front of them, making the lookalikes halt and look at him in confusion and impatience.

'' _Slowly_ **.** ''

They reluctantly nodded and started walking towards Toothless, now cautiously, while watching the aforementioned dragon the whole time. Their eyes still held a glint of excitement, which is why the dragon didn't find amusement in their scared motions. He already knew that once he gives them his trust, they might just go haywire.

The lookalikes were now within arms reach, when they stopped and gave each other a competitive, annoyed glare, which Toothless guessed was because both wanted to go first.

Apparently, Hiccup was on the same mind set too.

''Tuffnut." called out his boy. The male lookalike, or _Tuffnut_ , gave his clone a boasting glance and held out his fish to Toothless. Said dragon gave a last glance at Hiccup, sniffed the cod and snatched it away, enjoying as the flavors invaded his mouth. He finished his bite with a satisfied lick on his mouth and gave a gummy smile to the male lookalike, who looked completely starsturck.

''Ruffnut." now the female viking stepped forward, and with much more confidence, she held out the fish. Toothless contemplated on messing with her, but decided against it. It would cause him annoyance in the long run, so he repeated the same actions, which resulted in the same startsturck, admiring look.

''That's…"

''So…"

''COOL!"

Toothless stepped an inch closer to his viking. There two were scary, especially after they managed to headbutt each other in their celebration and lose consciousness. That could make them have some inner wound that would lead to-

Oh.

_Oh._

So _that's_ why they are crazy. Huh.

He was shaken out from his musings by Hiccup's umpteen exasperated sigh.

''I'm… really sorry bud. They kind of cornered me about meeting you, please don't be mad." pleaded Hiccup with an awkward face. Toothless gave him an affectionate nuzzling, telling his boy that it was okay. If he were honest, he was actually quite entertained at some level.

''You are the best… now, could you splash some water on them, they still need to go over the whole process." asked Hiccup while motioning towards the small pond in the cove. Toothless used his tail to rain these two mutton heads with a decent amount of water, making said lookalikes jolt awake.

''Did we just fall asleep?!" asked the female lookalike, or Ruffnut, horror written all over her face. (and Hiccup thought _he_ had a bad name! Toothless has never seen any kind of nut being tough or rough, they just kinda break under his paws)

''Nooo…" groaned the male lookalike before realizing that they were still in the presence of a dragon that they just fed a fish. His female version seemed to realize their situation as well and wobbly stood up, not caring that she managed to make his brother fall over again in the process.

Hiccup didn't sigh or gave any indicator that he was not amused this time, but Toothless could guess that he just accepted that it will be failure whenever these two do _anything._

''Ruffnut, while your brother finally decides whether he likes the taste of dirt-''

''It'sh tashdy!"

''-hold out your open palm towards Toothless and look away. Do you think you can do that?" asked Hiccup seriously, a scowl evident on his face. Toothless has never seen his boy scowl that hard, and it was kind of unnerving even for the Night Fury.

It seemed that the female lookalike saw it too and decided to follow for once. She shakily extended her hand in the direction of the dragon's snout and looked away uncertainly. Toothless wondered where did that crazy excitement go that was here not a minute ago, but he figured that the hit on her had gave her some sense of rationality. After a glance at Hiccup and seeing his raised eyebrow and surprised look, the dragon concluded that this was, indeed, not normal behavior.

Toothless hesitated. He didn't know if giving his trust to more humans was the right move. He loved Hiccup as a brother and already felt a kind of bond forming with Hero, a deep one at that. But these two did not seem to be the kind where he would have a bond, only just a 'I don't hurt you and you don't hurt me' kind of trust, which was the very basic of every relationship, maybe ever.

Still, Hiccup brought them here for one reason or another (besides being cornered) and he is the one telling them what to do in order to gain Toothless's trust, which means that his boy wants this on some level and knows what he is doing. And since Toothless trusts Hiccup's judgement, he will play along.

So with that, he closed his eyes and pushed his snout into the palm. The palm was rough and smelt of fish, ash and blood. Thankfully, it was human blood and Toothless guessed that it was either hers or her clone's as in the end, they were still hatchlings like his boy, and hatchlings very rarely killed. Overall, not as sweet as Hiccup's or Hero's scent, but Toothless didn't have high expectations to begin with, so he was neither impressed nor disappointed. All that mattered is that Toothless trusted this _Ruffnut_ and she trusted him. They weren't friends, but 'trusty acquaintances' for now.

When he withdrew his snout and huffed to clear his nostrils from her scent, Toothless saw the open-mouthed shock of wonder on her face. She slowly rotated her hand without withdrawing, then watched said appendage like it is the best thing in the world.

''Oh… My… Thor… I touched a _Night Fury_." stated the female clone slowly, a broad smile overtaking her features.

''Amazing, isn't it?" asked Hiccup, a hint of smugness in his tone

Before the female clone could reply or do anything at all, her male counterpart finally stood up from his earth inspecting and shoved his sister away to stand at her place.

''Hey, I want to do it too!" exclaimed… Tuffnut (was it?) as he turned towards the dragon, bouncing a bit from eagerness.

It came as a great surprise when Ruffnut actually relented, and let his brother do the whole process, only sending an annoyed glare at him for being so impatient and bumping into her. So Toothless and the male counterpart did the same ritual, and the dragon was just half surprised when he got the _exact_ same reaction.

Overall, it was not bad. Toothless's belief that not all humans were bad strengthened, Hiccup seemed to be _sort of_ satisfied with how the lookalikes behaved, and said vikings seemed to be having the time of their lives.

No one noticed the turquoise portal opening behind them.

* * *


	5. Odin Is a Player, A Good One At That

**Year 2032, San Fransokyo, The USA**

''And this is the gist of it." said Hiro as he stepped back from the about to be opened portal.

After managing to neutralize all eight robbers, who admittedly put up a good fight, the gang decided to unwind from the experiences and bring that party they agreed on yesterday to a sooner time. Of course, the party was more like a friendly get-together as some of the injuries were complicating things: Gogo had broken three fingers on her toes, Fred got rib bruises and a sprained shoulder, and Wasabi got a broken nose. Hiro and Honey Lemon got the easier way out as the boy only suffered from a cut on his cheek while the chemist girl survived without any injuries.

Least to say, Baymax had a field day.

So yeah, the party was basically Honey Lemon enthusiastically jumping and dancing to the music while the others cheered, chatted or made themselves busy. Hiro, not sharing the excitement, decided to sit at the end of the couch alone and work on improving Baymax's coding on Tadashi's old Laptop - or since that fire incident that took his brother away - his laptop.

Yet he and the rest of the gang enjoyed the 'party' and its easy-going atmosphere, even though some painful groans broke the positive air time to time

Then, when the food and the drinks have run out (and some of the injuries decided to need a serious rest), the team agreed on watching Hiro leave through his portal. After the boy managed to gather the necessary things that Baymax kept on insisting and his supersuit, he brought his purple disk to Fred's mansion and started calibrating it while explaining the main principals and the way things worked to the others.

''So, let me get this straight; Krei just gave you a billion dollar worth _government_ invention to upgrade and do whatever you want _for free?"_ asked Gogo incredulously as she and the rest of the team watched a turquoise circle enlargen on the floor of the room.

''Hey, I was shocked at first too, but you know what they say – Never look a gift horse in the mouth." shrugged Hiro as he hung his backpacks on both his shoulders and turned back to his friends. He honestly wondered the same thing numerous amount of times, but he could still remember Krei's desperate face as the man hastily agreed on giving _every single note and plan_ to Hiro, making him dismiss any doubt and uncertainty.

''Are you sure none of you want to come?" asked Hiro while meeting the eyes of his friends.

''We are _kind of_ injured here, so maybe let us heal a little first, then count us in." said Wasabi teasingly while wrinkling his sore nose to emphasize his point.

''You only got your nose beaten up, be happy that you can at least walk properly." mumbled Gogo with venom in her voice. Hiro's eyes went to her bandaged feet and her crutches subconsciously and winced. He was near when that disgusting crack resonated from her feet and it was not pretty.

''Don't worry little fella, Honey will take care of us while you steal Baymax away." cut in Fred from his sofa he was laying on.

''It is essential that someone, who has medical knowledge stays here and attends your wounds if all of you are still adamant on not receiving professional help." piped in Baymax blinkingly.

Honey Lemon, who was working diligently on rebandaging the mascot's shoulders, smiled kindly but shook her head, signaling that she will be staying there and helping the others. Hiro smiled back at her and nodded in understanding, appreciating her assiduity.

The boy then took a deep breath, turned around and after a second hesitation, he jumped into the abyss with Baymax hot on his heels.

The rest of Big Hero 6 watched with minor concern as the portal steadily tightened and evaporated, the disk under it absent. There was half a minute of silence while everyone listened and looked out of the window, waiting for anything extraordinary to happen. When nothing did, Wasabi sighed in relief.

''No dragons, thank god." mumbled the man as he slumped back into the sofa next to Fred and Honey.

''I don't know, I think it would be wicked to suddenly change into viking clothes and have a pet dragon by your side!" exclaimed Fred, which immediately devolved into a groan as his rib cage did not share his enthusiasm.

''Let's just… hope that Hiro knows what he is doing."

* * *

**Year 1032, Faroe Islands, Berk**

The very first thing Hiro noticed that he didn't faint this time. And _…_ the positivities ended right about here as when he hit the ground again, his head was still killing him and he felt quite dizzy, not to mention that getting emitted to another time and then hitting the ground _hurt_.

But hey, at least he was awake.

'' _Ouwwww"_

The next thing he heard was plastic shuffling, and before his brain could process what the sound could be, a vinyl hand was helping him to his feet.

''On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?" asked Baymax's voice, making Hiro finally open his eyes and focus on the robot.

''Around a four, but it's decreasing so don't worry." replied the boy while shaking his head to escape the dizziness at least.

''Oh my Thor."

The sudden voice made Hiro's head snap to his side and Baymax's head rotate towards the same direction. As the boy's vision finally came back, he soon saw four people in front of him. To be precise, three people and a very familiar dragon.

Before he could inspect the humans and draw any conclusions, he was toppled to the ground by a huge black mass and was assaulted by a slimy, wet tongue. He could do nothing but pet the now recognizable snout of Toothless and laugh as the excited dragon gave him his way of welcoming. Even though saliva was not his favorite thing to be plastered in the face, he could forgive the dragon just this once.

Hiro definitely missed Toothless and his feelings seemed to be reciprocated.

''Hey there boy, good to see you too." cooed the boy as his scratching finally managed to distract the dragon enough to let him speak. Hiro slowly sat up, not letting go of the dragon's head and smiled at the reptilian's blissful face.

''Hey, why does the Night Fury like him immediately?!" came the whiny exclamation, reminding him the Toothless was not the only one here. Hiro looked towards the direction of the sound while making sure not to halt his scratching. He was surprised to see that not only was Hiccup there, but two more vikings too, twins presumably, and they were looking at him like he brought the sun down from the sky.

'' _Duh,_ he is a god you idiot. Everybody knows that animals love gods." replied the female twin with a roll of her eyes. Hiro needed a moment to realize that they were still talking about him, and didn't know whether to be flattered or amused that he was titled as 'god'. Now that he thought about it, with all the technology he had, Hiro could easily convince every viking that he was some kind of superior entity.

The genius saw how the male twin's face brightened in realization, and - _great_ , now they are looking at him adoringly. Hiro honestly didn't know what to feel about the newcomers at this point, so he changed his focus to Hiccup, who seemed to be biting his lip and restraining a remark (which the genius would have loved to hear if he were honest).

''You good?" asked his viking friend, a bit shyness still evident in his voice.

''Yeah, though you could have mentioned that you plan on bringing a party. I'm not even in my 'befriending Vikings' attire." snarked back Hiro while motioning to his clothes.

As the clothes from yesterday was still in laundry, Hiro was forced to wear a darker pair of short cargo pants and a cyan colored T-shirt instead of his red one. In addition to humor Hiccup, he brought his favorite, dark-blue hoodie as the SFIT one was in laundry as well. All in all, he wasn't looking _that_ different, only some slight style and color changes.

''Because yesterday's clothing was?" asked Hiccup with a raised eyebrow.

In the mean time Toothless, noticing that his boys were talking, went over to greet Baymax.

''Yeah, I thought it was obvious." replied Hiro with an cocky smile. Upon seeing that the boy was clearly using sarcasm, Hiccup snorted and shook his head in an amused way. Then the viking leaned in towards Hiro's ear and started whispering.

'' _Play along and don't question anything, okay?"_

Hiro was momentarily confused, but upon seeing the clear signs of a plan in his friend's eyes, he nodded. Seeing this, Hiccup straightened out and looked at the twins, who managed to keep quiet the whole time, being to enthralled in the way Hiccup was talking to a god.

''Ruffnut, Tuffnut, this here is none other than the Allfather, Odin himself." announced Hiccup proudly while motioning towards Hiro with both his arms, making the twins look at Hiro in shock.

The boy in question didn't know whether to question the origin of a tradition that allows parents to call their kids 'Hiccup', 'Tuffnut' and 'Ruffnut', or question who Odin was.

'' _Hold on –_ He is Odin?!" exclaimed Tuffnut while taking a step back.

''I thought Odin looked bigger and more masculine, not a weird-eyed fishbone…" trailed off Ruffnut, slowly regaining her composure.

Hiro winced inside, but let the clearly racist and belittling remark slide as the vikings has probably never seen anyone from Asia, much less from Japan. Not that he would have cared either way, though being called a fishbone hurt his pride a bit.

''Yes, but have you listened to the stories of the gods when we were littler?" asked Hiccup with an fake expectant eyebrow. Hiro was intrigued as his only knowledge of Norse beliefs were about Thor and that giant wolf Fenrir. He would have liked to gain more info on this Odin character as apparently, he would be playing that role in whatever Hiccup was planning.

''Erm, no? Why would we? Most of those stories are plain boring." said Tuffnut with a roll of his eyes, still holding up a startled stance and looking at Hiro warily.

''Yeah, except for the ones with Loki in it. Now those are _good._ " continued Ruffnut, getting agreeing nods from her brother.

Hiccup didn't seem either impressed nor surprised.

''Well, then you probably don't know about one of the rules of Asgard. A god can only come down to Midgard if they wear a disguise, as it is forbidden for them to be seen by people in their actual body." explained Hiccup while nodding towards Hiro.

The twins, after hearing this, changed their focus to the genius and narrowed their eyes in calculation. They looked the boy up and down, circled him like a predator would their prey, making Hiro quite uncomfortable and self-conscious. In the end, he was still just a teenage from the 21st century traveling into the world of the vikings where people tended to be… _less_ empathetic and forgiving. He stole a quick glance at Hiccup, and saw the apologetic and pitying expression on his face, making Hiro narrow his eyes slightly in a clear message ' _I expect and explanation later'._ Hiccup undoubtedly noticed and gave a slight defeated nod.

''It... makes sense… and no one would suspect Odin to look like a foreign kid…" trailed off Ruffnut slowly after she and her brother finished their inspection, and now both of them were looking much more believing, yet there was a hint of doubt in their eyes.

''Yeah, though what I don't understand is out of all the gods, why would Odin decide to reveal himself? Why not Loki? 'Cause that would be cool." asked Tuffnut, ending it with a delighted grin, Hiccup had to raise an eyebrow as actually relevant questions (mainly the first one) and a basic understanding were not something the twins were known for. It almost looked like for a second that Tuffnut may have more to him than just being a crazy, explosion addicted, trouble-making maniac, which was probably the case as Hiccup didn't really know him or his sister that well.

''Because he is Odin, _duh_ , he must be powerful enough that he doesn't have to hide his identity." dismissed Ruffnut while rolling his eyes. Tuffnut looked annoyed.

''I was trying to subtly _ask Odin a question_ , that I coated in a simple rhetorical thought, you moron." replied Tuffnut scoldingly while making a 'shut up or I beat ya' move towards Ruffnut, who seemed to take great offense in his sentence and gestures.

Wait. Did Tuffnut just use the word 'rhetorical' and in the right way?

''If it weren't for the fact that we had the Allfather in front of us who could smite us to Hel, I would feed you to the Night Fury." retorted Ruffnut while pointing at the dragon in question who was currently curled around Baymax behind Hiccup and Hiro, enjoying the way the robot's fluffy hands moved on his scales. Baymax in the mean time was watching the conversation unfold with interest.

Tuffnut ignored her threat and focused on Hiro again.

''So, Odin? Why would you reveal yourself? And what's up with that big blob behind you?"

Now this question ripped Hiccup out of his musings of the male twin's actual character and looked at Hero nervously. _Maybe_ putting his friend in a situation like this was not the right idea as Hero didn't seemed to know much of the viking culture, or the vikings altogether if yesterday's encounter was any indicator, thus he may not know much of the stories of Odin, _thus_ when asked about a specific part of a specific story concerning the god in question, Hero wouldn't know the answer.

But he was surprised when he saw the faintest of smirks appearing on Hero's face and a wink being directed his way, a clear sign of saying _'I got this'_.

''Well, I guess Hiccup decided to reveal my identity in the end, _without my consent_.'' started saying Hiro with a pointed look towards his friend. ''So here it goes. First of all, I would like to ask every one of you that while I'm this body –'' he motioned to himself '' – you must call me by the name Hiro."

''Wait, you want us to call you _Hero?"_ asked the female twin incredulously.

''I mean, I guess you are kind of a big name, so I guess it fits…" trailed off Tuffnut uncertainly. Hiro looked at them confusedly, before it suddenly clicked.

''OH! No, it's _Hiro_ with and 'I' instead of an 'E'." explained the genius awkwardly. In all honesty, he got more than used to people questioning his name, so he wasn't that bothered by the mispronunciation and the presumption.

He missed the way Hiccup's face suddenly became one of surprise and inquiring.

''So it's H-I-R-O?" asked the male twin. The boy in question nodded.

''Hiro… Hero… Nope, I don't get the difference. It sounds the same" said Ruffnut, visibly having problems with the pronunciation.

''It's really not a problem though, you can call me Hero as well. I'm definitely not complaining." joked Hiro actually getting chuckle from the vikings.

At this point, Hiccup decided to continue his plan, before the now established _Hiro_ messed something up on accident.

''Who knew that Odin had humor, right? Anyway, what I wanted to say was-'' started of the young viking but was actually hit in the shoulder by Ruffnut, making him yelp and look at her questioningly.

''Hold on, you cannot just interrupt a god while he's monologuing, Hiccup! Out of all us, you should know that." scolded the female viking with narrowed eyes.

Hiccup gave her a deadpan look, but kept shut. The fact that it was the twins who interrupted him in the first place and now they are scolding Hiccup for that was amusing to Hiro, especially the look he gave them. It made him fight a snort and hide an amused smile.

''So Od- _Hero" -_ continued Ruffnut while giving an awkward smile to the genius-in-disguise - ''Could you continue, please?"

Hiccup really didn't like the all-knowing smirk on his friend's face and the way he wiggled his eyebrows at him, so he made a reminder to get back at him later. It seemed that Hiro was enjoying himself if the held up head, puffed out chest and hands intervened behind him were any sign. It gave Hiro a proud, confident and official look that Hiccup admitted it looked believable, if not overexaggerated.

The viking had to fight an eye roll _extremely_ hard when Hiro completed his 'image' with a loud clear of throat.

''Right, where was I? Oh! So. To answer your question, a big change is on the horizon that will alter the fate of the world. The problem is, the change is either the end of everything or the beginning of something great, and me and several other gods has decided that it was an elementary decision to help you." said Hiro loudly while making sure to hold a faux-serious expression.

Hiccup, of course, didn't buy anything said but when he looked at the twins, he could already see that they were seriously clinging to every word the boy told. The scrawny viking decided to let his friend handle the rest as he seemed to be on top of the situation, and it's not like he was doing something Hiccup didn't want to; he _is_ making sure that the twins really believe he is Odin in disguise, and does a decent job at it.

''Woah… and this 'change' is so big, you decided to handle it yourself?" asked the male twin, still wearing that astonished face he and his sister acquired while Hiro talked.

''Well, if the well-being of erm… Midgard is in serious jeopardy, it is my duty to defend it." replied Hiro without breaking eye contact, hesitating before he remembered the word his viking friend used to describe the earth.

Hiccup was quite impressed by how good of an actor Hiro was. If Odin really did come down to interact with people, Hiccup imagined him to act the same; confident, all-mighty, serious with a hint of warm kindness.

The twins nodded in understanding.

''Then why don't you just do it now, destroy the thing that makes the bad change?" asked Ruffnut, getting an supporting nod from her brother.

Hiro was ready for this question.

''Change is not an event of the moment that I can just look at and it manages itself, but a spectacle of a period of time. I can only control Midgard and help making sure that it won't suffer from the negative end, but I cannot control change by myself. Plus, while I'm here and in this body, my powers are restricted so even if it were as easy as you assume it to be, I couldn't do it. And let's not talk about the fact that as this is a change concerning humanity, I'm only here to guide humans and help them to the better end, it is humanity's mission to complete the tasks given by fate. This is Asgard's rule."

Okay, now Hiccup was very impressed. Hiro was cryptic and mysterious enough that he could be easily sold as any god in disguise, while he managed to avoid giving out anything specific and still give a satisfying answer. All of that without breaking his image.

Hiro in the mean time was patting himself on the back figuratively. His performance was quite good, and Hiccup's surprised and proud face was a great reassurance. Thankfully, he practiced acting a bit for his hustles when he was still bot-fighting, making it easier to pretend.

''So… you are going to help us, humans, by helping us achieve the better end of this 'change'?" asked Tuffnut sceptically.

Hiro nodded.

''And the white blob?"

''As you can see, this body I took up is quite, well, _fragile_. I needed one of the most loyal spirits to play bodyguard for me. I know that I have the power to defend myself, but then there would be the risk that I _do_ get a fatal wound and then I couldn't help this world anymore. I hope it's understandable." explained Hiro, wincing slightly when he had to describe himself as fragile, but he knew that he had to act as if his body was just a mere puppet and have no emotional connection to it, so he swallowed his pride for the greater good.

The twins looked at him with narrowed eyes one last time, then shrugged and took up a disappointed face.

''Meh, It would be cooler if you were Loki." dismissed the male twin. Hiro could hear Hiccup sighing in relief.

''Yeah, don't you happen to know what's up with him though? Our pranks nowadays are backfiring and would love to use some help." added Ruffnut, a slight hopefulness in his voice.

Hiro smiled in triumph, detecting a way to escape the conversation as Hiccup was visibly itching to have word with him.

''He's probably planning another mischief of his, but I haven't heard of him for some time so it must be something of great stature. Next I see him, I will tell him that his two favorite believers are in need of his assistance." replied Hiro, smiling of the way both their faces lit up in delight.

''We are his favorite believers?!"

''That's so wicked!"

While the twins were having their celebration (that involved more punches and headbutts than expected), Hiro turned his head towards Toothless and Baymax and whisper-shouted Toothless's name. The dragon opened his eyes and turned towards Hiro with an inquiring warble.

'' _Could you distract the twins while I speak to Hiccup?"_ asked the genius in a whisper with a pleading look on his way. Hiccup also turned back to see what's Hiro is planning.

Toothless narrowed his eyes and huffed while shaking his head in disagreement.

'' _Please?"_ now Hiro's voice was straight up begging, while he subconsciously made a replica of puppy-eyes. Hiccup wanted to laugh at the fact that Hiro really just tried to use actual _puppy-eyes_ on a dragon, had it not been for the fact that _it had an effect_. Toothless's frown weakened and his pupils dilated while he looked into those eyes and became mesmerized. Then, much to Hiccup's astonishment, Toothless snapped his head away to avert Hiro's gaze while giving a small nod before groggily standing up and walking towards the bickering twins, who were in the middle of an argument about who Loki's real favorite.

''You know, I'm actually impressed. You make a believable Odin, at least for the twins." spoke up Hiccup while turning towards his friend.

''Can't say it wasn't a challenge, it's not every day that I have to pretend god, a powerful one at that." shrugged Hiro as he too turned towards his friend.

''Yeah, Odin is kind of the god of the gods to put it simply." explained Hiccup while scratching his forearm, sign of minor nervousness.

Baymax, as Toothless was occupied with the twins, stood up and walked over to the boys.

''According to my databases, Odin was the eldest, wisest and most influential god of the Norse mythology. He was the god of war, poetry and death, while being the greatest practicer of Shamanism. He was one of the few, who created earth with his siblings called Vili and Vé by slaying Ymir, an Ice giant, and used its body to create the known earth." spoke up Baymax suddenly from behind Hiro, scarring the boy in the process, but he slowly relaxed as he listened to the robot's explanation.

''So he's like, what? An ultra-good guy?"

 _''That's_ … putting it even more simply, but yeah, you could say that. I'm really sorry by the way for getting you into this situation." apologized Hiccup with a sheepish smile.

''I was wondering why didn't just introduce me as a foreign friend of yours, but I think you have a good reason for that, no?" asked Hiro, smiling when he saw the apologetic expression on Hiccup's face.

''Oh boy, I do… Could we sit down for that, though?" asked Hiccup while nodding towards the rock where Hiro was first emitted.

As him, his viking friend and Baymax were making their way towards their destination, Hiro stole a glance at Toothless and the twins and saw the dragon on his back, wearing a face that clearly suggested that he is on Cloud-9, while the twins were scratching him wherever they could. Said twins looked like they were having the time of their life.

After they sat down, facing each other, Hiccup took a calming breath and looked at Hiro.

''I think I should start with the fact that these two-'' said Hiccup as he motioned towards the Tuffnut and Ruffnut ''-witnessed us flying around yesterday and made a deal with me, which was basically me promising to introduce them to Toothless, you and Baymax and get them a dragon, while they promised me to keep their mouths shut." after Hiccup finished this part of the explanation, Hiro raised an eyebrow.

''I think 'deal' is not an appropriate word. Blackmail would much better." said Hiro while crossing his arms. Hiccup groaned.

'' _I know,_ but I didn't know how much of it would the other villagers believe so I didn't want to take the risk and agreed. Before you two got there with your portal thingy, I showed them Toothless, and I guess now I only need to get them a dragon to finalize the 'deal'." explained Hiccup, making quote marks at the word 'deal'.

''Well, I cannot fault you then, though this whole me being the god of the gods scheme still needs an explanation Viking, so…" trailed of Hiro, smirking as he saw Hiccup raise a questioning eyebrow at the nickname.

''Wow, are we already at the labeling part of our relationship? And 'Viking', _really_?" asked Hiccup with a small snicker.

''Hey, calling you 'Hiccup' is already sounds like a nickname and an offense at once, figured I would refer to you differently." shot back Hiro with a smirk as Hiccup frowned.

''I will pretend that I didn't hear the middle of your sentence and I guess I should give you a pet name too..." trailed off Hiccup, getting a snort from his friend.

''You already have 'genius' and 'future-boy', but those are just _meh_. Let's see what you come up with, _Viking_." challenged Hiro while he nudged Hiccup's chest with his index finger.

''Hmm… Tooth gap?"

''Lame, and you have one too."

''Hoodie?"

''You can do better than that."

''A thousand years boy?"

''You serious?"

''Almond eyes?"

''Are you even trying?"

''Spiky?"

''Spiky? Where did that come from?" asked Hiro with a sceptical eyebrow.

''Well… your hair is so messy, it makes it look like you have spikes coming from your head." said Hiccup while lifting a part of Hiro's hair with his hand, which was immediately slapped away by the owner of said fur.

''Hey! My hair is a strict no-go zone. You have no idea how much time I spend in the morning to make it look normal." protested Hiro as he adjusted the assaulted 'spike' in his hair with a crossed-eye.

''By the looks of it, I would say none but I think It's settled then! That's what i'm going to call you, _Spiky."_ teased Hiccup, making sure to emphasize the nickname just as much as Hiro did his.

''Are you seriously going to call me that?" replied Hiro questioningly.

''Hey, I named my dragon 'Toothless' just because when I first met him he didn't have teeth, or so I thought, so I think calling you 'Spiky' would be perfect. Plus your original name is kind of hard to pronounce in the right way, so…"

''You mean 'Hiro'? You just have to emphasize the 'r' and roll it on your tongue a bit."

''How do you even do that?"

''Well, Viking, It's-'' started Hiro but was cut off by Baymax.

''I believe you have abandoned the original topic."

The robots interference made the two boys blink at him and then each other slowly before both of them erupted into a series of chuckles when the realization hit them.

''I guess we did." said Hiro as he smiled at his best friend.

''Where were we again?" asked Hiccup while rubbing a small tear from his eye.

'' _Well, I cannot fault you then, though this whole me being the god of the gods scheme still needs an explanation Viking, so…"_ came Hiro's slightly robotic, yet still recognizable voice from Baymax.

Hiro snickered Hiccup's bewildered expression.

''I'm only half surprised he can do that. Is there anything he cannot do?" asked Hiccup from Hiro, pointing at Baymax.

''Sometimes I wish there were things like that, but Baymax will always be Baymax, making sure to surprise us. So, you were saying?"

''Oh, right. Well, I suspected that if you are going to help me with my 'getting Hiccup out of trouble without getting him or Toothless exiled or killed' kind of problem, you will have to be introduced to my dad and the tribe sooner or later. I needed something that will ensure that you won't be taken as a spy of a hostile tribe or as some kind of demon, us viking folk tend to assume the worst about people we don't know, so I figured that introducing you as Odin in a disguise would do the trick." reasoned Hiccup, getting an understanding nod from his friend.

''What if they don't believe it?"

''If someone is claimed to be the greatest god to us, vikings, nobody could afford the luxury of doubt. Imagine what would happen if it was actually Odin and they dismissed it as a plain lie, then punished him? Speaking against Odin is already enough for other tribes to declare a war, let alone hurting him in any way.''

Hiro decided not to mention the fact that there is a high chance that there are no gods at all, so the possibility of that happening is next to zero, but kept shut.

''So If I get introduced as him, they at least have to give me the benefit of the doubt and what? Give me a test to do something to prove it?" asked Hiro, liking the way Hiccup was thinking.

''Exactly. I thought since you are from the future, you could use this _technology_ of yours. You could easily pretend that everything you do is magic, and if you manage to give the same explanation you gave the twins, you will have people bow before you rather quickly."

Hiro slowly nodded. ''That's… actually a clever plan. Not bad Viking." praised Hiro with a playful hit on Hiccup's arm.

''Hehe, yeah I spent most of the night thinking of a way to introduce you without indirectly causing your death. By the way, my dad even visited me last night and was actually interested in _me_ for a change." told Hiccup, looking like what he said was the most impossible thing in the world.

''How did that go?" asked Hiro, being genuinely interested in the story of how the great chief and not-so-great father figure Stoick the Vast managed to talk to his son for more than two sentences (Yes, Hiccup's relationship with his only remaining family was touching for Hiro).

''He gave me an encouraging speech of how great of a dragon slayer I will be and how proud he is because of that, then gave me a half of my mother's breast-plate that was changed into a viking hat as a reward." said Hiccup bluntly with an unimpressed look.

Hiro's face was this 'what?' kind of shock-slash-disbelief face.

''I… I don't know how to react to that honestly. What did you reply?"

''I did the worst possible fake yawn and excused myself to sleep. Thank god I could sneak away today, because I'm sure dad is trying to be near me as much as possible now." replied Hiccup while watching his hands in his lap with a disturbed and disappointed expression.

''Well, if you manage to make peace between dragons and humans, he could be proud of you for the real reasons, so here's a goal to accomplish." said Hiro with a reassuring pat on Hiccup's shoulder.

Said viking looked up at him and met his eyes.

''You really think I could do it?" asked Hiccup hopefully. Hiro smiled back warmly.

''One of the general clichés of every story is that it's always the outcast that does the one thing that changes everything, then he lives happily ever after. And you, Viking, are the outcast in this story." replied Hiro without removing his hand from Hiccup's shoulder.

''What does that make you then? The cute, loveable sidekick?" asked Hiccup, trying to lighten up the mood.

Hiro chuckled.

''I think that title goes to Toothless. I am probably the main supporting character who gives you the inspiration you need, establishes a deep bond that captures the audience, then dies on the screen making the main character have an emotional crisis… Oh." trailed off Hiro, starting his sentence jokingly but slowly realizing where he was going. He subconsciously withdrew his hand in the mean time.

''Let's leave the last part of the cliché to the books, okay?" exclaimed Hiccup jokingly, shaking Hiro off the train of thought that his analogy created.

''Yeah, let's." agreed Hiro, establishing an awkward silence as both averted their gaze.

Suddenly, Hiccup remembered something.

''Oh! Here's something I wanted to give you though." said Hiccup as he proposed a satchel that was hanging on his hip the whole time he was there.

Hiro looked at him curiously but took the satchel wordlessly and opened it. Then he pulled out a white fabric, unfolded it, revealing a white tunic.

''Viking… clothes?" asked Hiro slowly as he proposed a brown vest as well.

''Yeah… Since you said you wanted to help me, and didn't show any sign of a change of heart, I thought that we could start solving the problem by showing you around the village. You would have a better idea of what we are working with.' explained Hiccup as Hiro was still focused on the many clothes the satchel contained while he was mumbling to himself.

''Wouldn't I stick out like a sore-''

Then it dawned on him.

''Oh hell no! Viking, I'm not going to wear any of this. Nope, No-uh, Not happening." exclaimed Hiro hastily as he threw the clothes and the satchel all together back to Hiccup.

''But you can't walk around with your future-y clothes either!"

''Even if I did wear these atrocities, one look at my face and they would know I'm not from here. Then we wouldn't even have enough time giving anybody this 'Odin-in-disguise' story before they behead me on the spot." retorted Hiro stubbornly. Hiccup winced as the twins were still around, but thankfully they were too occupied with laughing as Toothless literally sat on Tuffnut.

''First of all, vikings are not _that_ bad, we aren't like a beehive that we attack anyone who is not one of us. Secondly, that's why I brought you a cloak, so we could shadow your hair and face." reasoned Hiccup with a frown as he pointed to a black fabric leaking out of the satchel.

''So you think no one will question a cloaked stranger walking around the village with the heir in tow?" retorted Hiro incredulously.

''That's why we are bringing the twins! We will surround you, so all the others will see is a group of four viking teens walking through the village." reasoned Hiccup with a slight annoyance.

He managed to shut Hiro's excuses up but his stubborn friend was still not giving in. When Hiccup saw Baymax moving in the corner of his eye, he got an idea.

''We have to go to the village Spiky, but your current clothing would end you in the other end of a hammer or a sword, gaining you _severe wounds and possibly lethal injuries."_ emphasized Hiccup, directing the last part of the sentence towards Baymax. The reaction was instantaneous, the robot's head snapped up and looked at Hiro.

''Hiccup's assumption is right. Please Hiro, in order to avoid any harm on your mission, the use of disguise would be recommended." said Baymax while holding up his finger.

Hiro in the mean time was looking between his friends in a disbelieving manner, betrayal all over his face. He knew that Hiccup and Baymax were right, and he would probably end up in these millenia old fashion in the end, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

''You were right bro, this is fun!" came the feminine exclamation, getting the attention of Hiro. He saw now Ruffnut being sat on by Toothless.

''It's like you can feel your insides getting squeezed!" replied Tuffnut enthusiastically.

Now it was the genius who got an idea.

''Fine. You convinced me. But if you don't mind, I will change outside the cove since none of you bought me dinner so far." said Hiro as he took the satchel with all the clothes in it.

''Oookay…" was Hiccup's reply as he watched his friend up and leave, not liking the smirk that was momentarily on his face before he resigned.

His suspicions were confirmed when Hiro didn't go to the entrance of the cove but to the two baskets of untouched fish that was forgotten even by the dragon.

'' _Oh Toothless~"_ said Hiro in a singsongy voice, getting the attention of the reptile. When the dragon saw Hiro pouring out the fish from the baskets to the ground in a big pile, he stood up on all fours, ignoring the disappointed groans and questioning exclamations of the twins, and run towards the boy with dilated pupils that covered his eyes completely.

But before he could dive in, he was stopped by a hand, making him halt altogether and look at the boy with narrowed eyes.

''Now let's make a deal. I'm going to leave the cove for a short time to change into these horrendous pieces of fabrics-'' started saying Hiro while holding up the satchel for the dragon to see ''- then after I come back, you are going to make sure no one mocks me, laughs at me, or does any teasing about my appearance. This also goes forever, so if somebody does make a remark on how stupid I look tomorrow or years later, you are going to punish them in whatever way you want, understood?" asked Hiro seriously while not breaking eye contact with Toothless.

The dragon nodded.

''As a payment, you are going to get these two baskets of delicious fish waiting for a lucky dragon to devour. Deal?" asked Hiro while extending his arm with his palm facing upwards. The dragon probably didn't know how to shake hands, so Hiro went with a safe bet high-five.

Toothless didn't even care that he could easily get the fish without agreeing to anything, his stomach was literally spinning of hunger and he just wanted the boy to remove himself from the way. But before he could put his paw on the palm, Hiro pulled his arm back, making Toothless huff in annoyance and outrage.

''Even if it is Hiccup _, deal?"_ emphasized the boy as he resumed his upwards-facing palm in front of Toothless. Said dragon nodded and pawed the boy's palm, which finally made Hiro step away and let the dragon jump into his meal.

Hiro turned around with a satisfied expression and gave a lazy two-fingered salute towards the others as he made his way towards the entrance.

When he was out of sight, the twins turned to Hiccup.

''What was that?" inquired Tuffnut curiously.

The scrawny viking boy smiled.

''It seems that Odin does not only have humor but is a player. A good one at that.''

* * *

In the end, it was surprisingly Baymax who got sat on by Toothless. Poor robot only pointed out that Hiro's clothes are capable of leaving itchy marks behind because of the material, but Toothless took the boy's words extra seriously. As for the clothes, they were surprisingly comfortable; A white tunic and an equally as white leather pants, a brown vest, the dark cloak and a pair of boots, a belt and the satchel Hiccup brought the clothes in completing the 'Viking Hiro' look. It was really lucky that him and Hiccup wore the same size clothes in the end, though the boots were a bit tight but bearable.

Hiro had to begrudgingly admit that he wasn't looking _that_ bad.

After leaving Baymax and Toothless in the cove, the four vikings headed back to the village. Hiro wasn't much of a fan of history and foreign cultures, but there wouldn't be anyone in the 21st century that could honestly state that they wouldn't be a little curious about a completely life-like presentation of a village from an old, almost died-out culture. And what better way to ensure that it was 'completely life-like' than actually getting a tour in an actual village from its actual time by its actual people? So yeah, Hiro was excited and nervous when he noticed the first huts entering their view but he kept telling himself to 'suck it up' and for once, it actually worked!

Naturally, they got weird looks while they walked through the village. Hiro could see the adult vikings' calculating gaze at their group as they tried to figure out what other kid in the village was as thin and a bit smaller than Hiccup, making Hiro clutch the edges of his cloak tightly. Thankfully, Hiccup's new found fame quickly distracted everyone and the most the group received was cheerful greetings.

Soon they arrived at their first destination. The building didn't look like the other huts as it had an extension on the side. It had much of an 'open' design as it was not completely boarded up by walls and outsiders could view the interior of the building with no problem. It also had a roof extension leading to a smaller, sheltered section which could also be seen from the outside. What really stood out is the heat coming from it, making the chilly wind of Berk more and more familiar to the temperature in San Fransokyo.

''Our first stop is: The Forge!" announced Hiccup while turning towards his three friends with his arms wide in a welcoming manner.

While Hiro narrowed his eyes and focused on the visible interior, the twins looked at Hiccup unimpressed.

''Did you forget that he is Odin? He knows the whole island better than any of us." said Tuffnut scoldingly.

''Yeah, and I still can't understand why did you have to give him clothes? He can shapeshift, why didn't he just use this shifting magic and give himself clothes?" asked Ruffnut getting an agreeing nod from her brother.

Before Hiccup could dismiss their question, Hiro cut in with a jovial chuckle.

''Well, I haven't dealt with Berk personally for a good hundred years or more, so it would be nice to get to know the village again. And about my powers, I have already told you that they are restricted." supplied Hiro without hesitance. When Hiccup saw that the twins believed him, he sighed in relief.

''What!? No offense Od- _Hero_ , but from my perspective, it doesn't seem worth it to shapeshift." replied the male twin incredulously.

''if the well-being of humanity is on the line, sacrificing some of my powers is a small price to pay."

''Man, I will never understand gods... OH! Odin I have a question! What do you think of Ragnarök?" asked Ruffnut excitedly.

 _OKAY! ABORT MISSION! RED FLAG!_ these were the thoughts flying in Hiccup's head. Ragnarök was a pretty specific information and chances were high that Hiro didn't know what it was. His theory was proven when Hiro's serious/All-knowing face fell and panic slowly overtook it.

In a blink of an eye, Hiccup lunged towards Hiro and grasped his arm, then started pulling the boy towards the forge.

''Oh, well would you look at the time! It's already sunset, thanks for helping us guys, meet you at the arena this night where we'll get your dragons, BYE!" and with that, him and Hiro disappeared in the depths of the forge, leaving two shocked and confused twins behind.

As Hiccup and Hiro reached the viking's small room at the back of the forge, both let out a breath neither knew were holding.

''That was _way_ to close." mumbled Hiccup, his eyes still containing a hint of panic.

''Viking, Remind me to look up stories about Odin when I get home. This close call was a bit _too_ close." agreed Hiro with a shake of his head.

''No need Spiky, I can give you a book or something before you leave." said Hiccup with a kind smile, which Hiro reciprocated.

And that smile vanished immediately as the genius looked around the small room and noticed its contents; drawings plastered all over the walls and a small table situated next to the door with some metal parts and wood here and there. His legs instinctively brought him over to the closest drawing stuck on the wall and looked at it and the ones around. These were design plans for many kind of inventions, ranging from farm equipments and weapons to gadgets to help everyday life and even some ideas and notes of new mechanisms. Hiro's eyes could not stay on one paper for more than a second before it went to another, his brain immediately taking in even the tiniest notes in the corners of the paper or the small rubbed spots where something was obviously erased. Unbeknownst to him, he was leaning close to the wall while using both his arms as a support on the small table. What was even funnier, that he had to actually stop himself drooling once.

Hiro felt giddy as the comforting air of the place slowly relaxed his body. This was his environment, this is where he was at his element.

Then he spotted a drawing that was secluded from the others. The drawing was actually a design plan for some kind of machine name 'The Mangler' that Hiro could not help but marvel at. It was some kind of weapon, if the built-in crossbow or what was any indicator. The lines were obviously hand-drawn (which was an achievement itself) and they weren't only well-thought out and accurate, but _absolutely ingenious_ as it combined some kind of spring coil mechanism with an alterable crossbow.

''That's my latest invention.'' came Hiccup's voice. Hiro acknowledged him with a small nod but kept on staring at the drawings, sucking in all those perfectly drawn lines like gummy bears.

''It's a catapult that can be changed into a bola-launcher by three or four moves. This was also the one that got Toothless out of the sky. Never has been used after it…" trailed off Hiccup with a sigh.

''This is… brilliant." breathed Hiro as he turned around with the drawing still in his hand, leaned on edge of the table and run his free hand through his messy hair.

Hiccup had a warm feeling spread through him after hearing the astonishment in his friend's (or now that he remembers, kin brother's) voice and seeing the wonder on his face, but the viking couldn't help but feel shy and modest.

''Oh come on, you must have seen millions of plans like this, it can't be-''

''Shut the heck up." said Hiro while taking his free hair from the depths of his hair and giving the viking a decent punch to his forearm. His voice was quiet, yet it contained a sense of authority that made Hiccup close his mouth.

Hiro slowly turned towards Hiccup with an unreadable look, then raised the drawing in his hand next to his face.

'' _Viking_ , if I ever hear you calling yourself useless after managing to figure out something as brilliant as this, I'm going to make sure that you will eat every bite of every meal of yours straight from Toothless's mouth with extra saliva on top, understood?" threatened Hiro with serious eyes that pierced Hiccup's soul, leaving no argument. The viking wondered where did that adorable puppy look go that managed to convince the stubborn Night Fury to distract the twins. He missed that.

''Y-yeah." forced out Hiccup with a gulp. Hiro's face softened as he resumed looking at the drawing with a thoughtful look.

''Although… there is this one thing right about _here."_ said Hiro slowly while pointing at a specific point on the paper. Hiccup, his curiosity stirred, leaned on the table too and focused on the point where his friend was pointing.

''The spring coil? What's the problem with that?"

''Well you see, it is clever that you use a lever to remove the restriction from this coil, making the catapult go off, but there is nothing that keeps the coil squeezed together except for the lid of the machine and the weight of the lever with its mechanism." explained Hiro until recognition dawned on Hiccup's face and the viking slapped his forehead.

''So when I even do as little as touching the lid, the coil springs out and activates the catapult! Oh Thor, I should have seen it sooner!" exclaimed the viking as he ripped the paper out of his kin brother's hand, searched the table for his coal pencil and started working on fixing the plan diligently.

''You seem to have had a huge 'aha!' moment. Did the catapult go off before?" asked Hiro as he watched his friend do his magic on the paper.

''Actually, yes. It hit a villager square in the face, putting him out cold." told Hiccup with a chuckle. Hiro's face lit up as he burst out into a series of snickers that he tried to stifle immediately, with more or less success.

''And to top it off, _it was in the middle of a dragon raid.''_

''Oh god, is he okay though?" asked Hiro, concern flashing through his face.

''Yeah, yeah, he was taken away quickly and survived the night with only a bump on his head. Though he wasn't happy with me the next day." continued Hiccup as he resumed his work.

''Oh, I wonder why." commented Hiro sarcastically, getting an eyeroll from Hiccup.

Soon after, Hiccup finished and raised the drawing for both of them to see.

''There, it should be good now." said Hiccup with a satisfied nod, Hiro mirroring him after verifying that the problem was indeed fixed.

''Are you gonna do it now or…?" trailed of Hiro hopefully. In all honesty, he would have loved nothing more than to stay here with Hiccup, see what the young viking managed to put together and give him some pointers.

''Sure, but first I have to show you around. With the day already being darker, your cloak and viking clothes should be en-'' started saying Hiccup when a third voice was heard outside the room.

''Hiccup? You here?"

This was a female voice but it wasn't Ruffnut's, and it made Hiro tense up in alert.

While Hiccup's blood run cold when he heard the recognizable voice.

 _Astrid_.

_And she is in the forge while is Hiro still here._


	6. We are not calling him 'Double B'

At first it was just a simple state of alarm.

Then bewilderment as Hiro noticed Hiccup's face of terror. Which was oddly contagious as the genius felt his heart picking up pace and fear pulsing through his body. Whoever this girl was, Hiccup obviously did not expect her, nor did he want her to be there. And since Hiro guessed Hiccup knew this individual personally, she should probably not know that Hiro was there, Fake Odin backstory or not.

The two boys exchanged wide-eyed glances and nodded, not needing verbal communication to know what both of them wanted Hiro to do.

_Hide_

So without saying anything, Hiro quickly tip-toed to the window and after making sure that no one was around outside, he jumped out. The drop couldn't even be considered a drop, as it was like jumping over a fence. Then, he crouched and leaned back on the wall beneath the window, making sure his hair was not visible from inside. Satisfied, he sighed in relief and focused on the events in the forge while sending wary glances around from time to time.

Hiccup, after seeing Hiro disappear through his window, sighed and thanked Odin that his room was on the ground floor, making it possible to escape through there easily. After refocusing on the current trouble, he slowly opened the door, revealing Astrid's feminine yet warrior-like form.

Oh, and her axe in her hand.

Why is it that she always looked murderous with that thing?!

''Hiccup." Her voice made the boy, who was watching the axe warily 'till now, raise his eyes and meet hers. Strangely, there were no hostility in those icy blue eyes, just genuine curiosity and the need for answers.

…which didn't soothe the boy at all, as it usually meant that she is ready to take drastic measures if he kept shut.

''Y-yes, Astrid?" stuttered Hiccup, still wide-eyed.

The girl looked at him strangely but seemed to dismiss her doubts (first time for everything) and hesitated.

''I… I just want to ask a question." said Astrid, her usual 'no messing around' tone quickly coming back.

Though the fact that Astrid hesitated in the first place already made Hiccup raise a questioning eyebrow, which went into a full frown when he heard her intentions.

''Is it about dragon training again? Oh my Thor, you are really-'' started complaining Hiccup, but was silenced when Astrid held up a hand.

''It's not about that, it's… urgh, here." replied Astrid as she gave her axe to Hiccup, who almost dropped it in surprise. As he finally gained a hold on the weapon, he looked between said item and Astrid in a confused manner.

''What?" asked Hiccup after a short silence.

Astrid sighed.

''I just want to know something. Do you know anything about…'' she pointed at the knob ''- this?"

Hiccup raised the axe and saw what she was pointing at; there were three letter Hs craved into it.

''Yeah. These stand for my name, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock. Why?" asked Hiccup, not really seeing a reason why would Astrid want to know that, especially now.

''I don't know much about forging, but I do know that blacksmiths usually carve their initials to the weapons they make. Gobber is famous for doing that, and since you were his apprentice I assume you picked up on the tradition. What I want to know is if it were really _you_ who made my axe." asked Astrid in a slightly soft, curious voice instead of her demanding one.

Hiccup chewed on his lip in thought. He was strongly debating on admitting that it _was_ him who made her axe or just make up some sorry excuse of finding this wood in the forge when he was little and craving his name to it out of boredom, then apologizing to Astrid for letting that piece of wood become the handle of her axe.

But knowing that Astrid was smarter, more stubborn than most vikings and could easily detect him lying, he decided that it was not worth the trouble so he may just come clean.

''Yes… I made it for your twentieth birthday out of the best metal I could find. There, you happy?" asked Hiccup while giving the axe back to the viking girl and crossing his arms.

''But my father said that Gobber made it. Why would he lie about it?" asked Astrid with a conflicted face as she looked at her axe.

''He didn't. It was Gobber who lied after _I_ asked him to do so." retorted Hiccup, a slight bitterness in his voice.

Astrid snapped her head in surprise.

''Why?" asked the surprised girl in absolute confusion.

Hiccup groaned. He was in the middle of helping Hiro collect info, so they could solve Hiccup's problem somehow, he really didn't have time for explaining his past actions to a thick-headed girl.

_''Why_?! Astrid, look me in the eye and tell me that you would have loved this axe as much as you do now if you knew that it was me, Hiccup, who made it? Look me in the eye, and _say it._ "

It was enough answer for the viking boy when he saw Astrid open her mouth to answer and then close it slowly while changing her focus to the ground.

Hiccup scoffed.

''That's what I thought. And don't tell me either that your father would have given it to you if Gobber told him that it was Hiccup who made the axe, not him." added the viking boy bitterly.

''Don't you _dare_ talk ill about my father." mumbled Astrid with strength in every syllable, but not raising her eyes to meet his.

Hiccup gulped, but did not relent.

''I'm sorry Astrid, but that does not make it any less true, and you know it." and by the look on her face, she did. Hiccup shook his head and sighed.

''Is there anything else you want to know? I'm kinda busy here." continued Hiccup while motioning towards the inside of the room.

He should have left out the last sentence, as it seemed that whenever Hiccup was 'busy', that meant it was time for Astrid to be suspicious. And, not to anyone's surprise, Astrid did straighten out, got a familiar frown and looked into Hiccup's eye.

''What are you busy with?" and to further the truth of the sentence, her demanding tone came back.

If Hiccup was really bad at something, it was lying. And as mentioned before, if there was one thing Astrid was really _good_ at, it was detecting lies. Now add these two together, and you get a beautiful mess that Hiccup couldn't get out unless Odin himself blessed him. Hel, at this point he would have taken Hiro's blessing's as well, it is technically the closest he had to the Allfather's.

''Well… I was just… inventing! Yes, y'know… strange, Hiccup inventions that always blow up and cause a headache to the village. Yeah. Those inventions." babbled Hiccup nervously. It was obvious that Astrid noticed his nervous pose that he subconsciously took on, and the awkward smile too, but she just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Hiccup thanked even Loki for his luck.

_''Sure_.'' says Astrid with a voice thick of something Hiccup could only identify as the 'I don't believe it at all' sarcasm.

An awkward silence fallen on the two vikings that was only actually awkward for Hiccup. Astrid on the other hand seemed to lose her seriousness gradually and gain a contemplating expression.

The small silence was broken by her sigh.

''In any case, I owe you a 'thank you' for my axe. It has only needed to be sharpened four times in three years, so I guess you did a good job with it." praised Astrid with the faintest of smiles, surprising and rendering Hiccup speechless.

No words were exchanged between them as the viking girl gave a parting nod, turned around and started walking away with her usual confidence in her steps while looking at the axe in her hands. Hiccup could only look after her with an slightly agape mouth, his mind still trying to reboot itself after Astrid's praise and smile. Even thinking about the fact that the words 'Astrid', 'praise' and 'smile' were in the same sentence was a huge thing, and now Hiccup found himself on the receiving side of 'Astrid's praise and smile'.

After he slowly regained his brain functions, he stepped back into the room and closed the door. He still needed to process everything, so he leaned on the now closed door with only his forehead touching the wooden entrance and closed his eyes. Conflicted could not even describe what was going on Hiccup's mind, but he had to suck it up as there was still work to be done.

''I hope you had a good show Spiky, but you can come out now." raised his voice Hiccup as he finally decided to end his delicate moment with the forge door and looked back at the window, expecting his raven haired friend to pop up with the smuggest of smiles or the most awkward and embarrassing questions possible.

Instead, he was met with silence and an absence of his kin brother (he has to ask Gothi what does this mean exactly). As he cautiously made his way towards his window, he started to have a bad feeling.

''Spiky? Hiro? You here?" asked lowly Hiccup while eyeing the window, almost expecting the other boy to jump out of the shadows as a prank. His friend showed an amount of sass that Hiccup could see him as someone who enjoys joking, thus pranking was in-limits.

When even that didn't happen, Hiccup decided to investigate, so he too jumped over the windowsill into the outside. He didn't exactly expected to find Hiro just… standing here. With his back turned. Looking at something in his hands.

''Hiro? Are you okay?" asked Hiccup softly, concerned for his friend as he walked behind him. He wasn't _too_ concerned as it was like he could feel Hiro's confusion, but nothing else that would indicate that he is in any kind of distress.

His voice thankfully shook the other boy out of whatever daze he was in, and he turned around. Now Hiccup could see that Hiro wore a clueless, not-knowing-what-to-do kind of face.

The viking had to admit, it did not suit him at all.

''Erm… Does three feet tall, ancient looking mute women with wands usually walk up to strangers in this village?" asked Hiro awkwardly.

Hiccup raised a surprised eyebrow. For a second, he couldn't form any comprehensible sentences, only could stand there and look at his friend in bafflement and think: _What a sentence._

''That… must be Gothi." told Hiccup hesitantly, still thinking about the awfully appropriate description he was just given.

''Oh, so she had a name. Good to know, I started to think she was a ghost." replied Hiro with a sigh while scratching his forearm nervously.

''Don't let her hear that. She may look old, but she has a mean hit with her staff." retorted Hiccup teasingly, getting a snort and a fond shake of head from Hiro.

''This village… is an interesting experience so far." said the genius out of the blue, his posture finally relaxing and a relieved chuckle escaping him. Hiccup couldn't hold a smile upon seeing his new friend finally being at ease. He already showed signs of loosening when he was Hiccup's room in the forge, marveling at the viking's sketches, but now seeing him chuckle and be relaxed was actually a wonderful sight. Hiccup could feel himself getting a bit lightheaded too - something he has only felt when he and Toothless did their first successful flight.

''Well, you have so far met a Night Fury, - '' started listing Hiccup on his fingers ''- has been named the greatest god in viking history and met the village elder Gothi, which is an experience itself. I can _kind of_ see your point." added Hiccup with a shrug and a chuckle, Hiro soon joining him.

''Yeah, and I already got a puzzle to solve. This place has _everything_.'' said Hiro while holding up a paper in his hands. Hiccup looked at it curiously.

''A puzzle?"

''Yeah, the old lady gave me it. It looks like some kind of writing, but I have a half mind calling them a very badly constructed labyrinth puzzle." said Hiro, giving Hiccup the paper after giving it another look. The viking took it.

The paper was mostly blank, except for the two sentences written in ancient runes in the middle.

_''I would like to see your work, young dragon master. Make sure to bring your Kin brother too.''_

''What the..." whispered Hiccup as he tried to process the information. How in the name of Hel did Gothi know that Hiro was his brother in kin? It was like she knew everything about, well, everything. And Hiccup couldn't even question her as she would definitely find a way to avoid answering it. But if the boy were completely honest, he wasn't _that_ shocked, the elder was famous for always knowing what to do and _when_ to do it, making her the wisest of the elders. Not to mention that no one knew how she did all this, making her the most inexplicable person too.

But still, Hiccup would have really liked to know how she knew where and who Hiro was.

_Damn that woman and her mysteriousness._

Deciding to dismiss his questions that he really wanted to answer, he returned his focus to his friend, who wore an intrigued and curious expression. Suddenly Hiccup got a slightly mischievous idea.

The next thing the genius knew was his friend pocketing the note as he turned around and began walking towards the other direction without saying anything.

''Wait, what did the note say? And what happened in the forge?" asked Hiro insistently as he hurried to catch up with his friend.

''Not telling." said Hiccup as he kept on walking while trying to hide how amused he was when he saw Hiro's taken aback face.

''What? Why?" now the genius was frowning.

''Maybe because I find it amusing to see someone with such a great mind as you pouting." retorted Hiccup nonchalantly, still fighting an entertained smile.

'' _Viking."_ growled his friend warningly, but Hiccup still didn't bat an eye. It felt strange to have such a joking and not-so serious conversation with another person, but the viking thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless.

''Still not telling~." replied Hiccup in a sing-songy voice as he kept walking in the same direction. Unbeknownst to Hiro, they were doing exactly what the paper insinuated; going to the dragon training arena where Ruff, Tuff and now Gothi is supposed to be.

Hiro huffed in annoyance, crossed his arms while making sure that his cloak was hiding his face as he now knew that he _was_ pouting, but would die before letting Hiccup see it.

''I will let you know, Viking, that you are a despicable human being, and I will spend every waking hour of my existence plotting a revenge, and when I strike, you will be _very sorry_ for everything." grumbled Hiro while giving a pointed look at his friend.

''Bring it on, Spiky." replied Hiccup with an amused smile and a shrug, though being a tiny bit concerned by his friend's threat. He already knew that Hiro was not one to make empty promises, no matter if the matter was serious, or was just jabbing each other verbally.

''This nickname is still pretty stupid, you know." noted Hiro offhandedly.

''If it is stupid for you, it is perfect for me."

''You are such a tease. Where is that shy and clumsy viking I have heard about?" asked Hiro as he spared a glance at the actually smug-looking viking.

But then something changed. Hiccup's smirk gradually shifted to a sad and uncertain one as his pace slowed down too. Hiro couldn't deny that he felt a pang of concern by seeing this sudden change of emotion and he was almost ready to apologize, when Hiccup interrupted him with a sigh.

''Do you want the easy answer that is just a sorry excuse or the honest answer that even I am not completely sure about?" asked Hiccup as he lifted his gaze and met Hiro's eyes.

''I would choose the first option in every other scenario, but you look like you need to get something off your chest, so I am ready for the incredibly sappy option two." replied Hiro with a small smile, his attempt at making the viking smile successful.

''Well… I'm acting like this, because… y-you are probably the first person that I feel like I can freely joke with and mess around without fearing to get any backslash. Like, I could never do it with Astrid or Snotlout, as they would always find a way to make fun of me, mock me or most of the time just ignore me. With you, I just feel… at ease."

''For some reason I don't know whether I should be proud and flattered, or offended that you don't expect any 'backslash'." quipped Hiro, earning himself a light punch and a roll of eyes.

''But seriously now, do you get what I am saying?" asked Hiccup, the genius could clearly hear that he was really hoping he would say yes. Even though Hiro is usually not fan of these melancholic, touchy-feely conversations, he couldn't deny that Viking is onto something.

''Actually, now that you mention it…" started Hiro slowly "Here's the situation; you already know about these educational systems back at my home, right?"

Hiccup seemed to mull over before answering.

''Let's see… elementary school, high school and… college or something like that? And you are some kind of genius because you are already in the last one, whereas the other kids are still barely starting the second, right?" asked the viking.

Hiro nodded.

''Yeah, so you can imagine that I didn't make so many friends as they were usually years older than me. Now I have friends, don't worry, but they are much older and sometimes I feel like I'm their little brother who they have to always look after and it makes me… self-conscious, I guess? Anyway, you are actually the first person from my age who I can talk to and don't feel awkward or like I'm bothering them. Guess my aunt and Tadashi were right when they told me I needed to get friends my age." admitted Hiro, sending a warm smile towards his friend who seemed understanding.

And the genius was not kidding either. He never really had many friends, because he always thought that making robots, other inventions and hanging out with Mochi, Aunt Cass and Tadashi were enough for him. And it was true, he never really felt like he needed friends, but he would be lying if he said that Wasabi and the rest of the gang wasn't a nice addition to his life. And even then, his point still stood; there were times when his friends were babysitting him, probably unconsciously.

So finally having one person his age and sharing many interests with him to top it off was honestly a new and refreshing experience. (He ignored the fact that his friend probably died around 950 years before he was born)

''Yeah… Guess we both needed each other, huh?" asked the viking.

'' _Okay_ , Viking. We are sailing to _really_ sappy territories here, where even your raw vikingness can't handle the vile creatures of the sap-ocean, so it would be wise to turn your little viking boat around and flee." retorted Hiro while gesticulating with his hands the motions of the imaginary viking boat's route.

Hiccup could only gape at him. He did not expect that.

''Did you just… I can't even… _What?!"_

Least to say, this reaction was enough for Hiro to erupt into a laughter, while Hiccup was still trying to process that his friend has managed to make a viking related, pun-like metaphor that was not only appropriate and witty but a perfect way to change subjects.

The sun was barely peaking through the horizon, making the sky a very deep shade of dark-blue. The paths between the houses and huts were barely illuminated by the light of the already shining moon, making Hiro's dark cloak quite effective, but the dim light of the sun and moon were enough for a blonde viking to notice him.

* * *

Throughout they silent walk, Hiccup refused to tell him where they were going, and so Hiro had to think hard to recall anything that could have given him any clue. He had a great memory, almost photographic, so he tried to remember every conversation he had overheard ever since he and Baymax arrived in this time. The only places he could remember, with the exception of the forge, were the Chief's house, a place called 'Mead Hall', the docks and an arena. Considering that he has yet to see anything other than plain huts and an occasional viking (seriously, what do these people _eat_? They are so vast, it's not even funny), he had no idea where they were going.

While Hiccup was playing 'least said soonest mended', Hiro decided to give the village a critical eye in the mean time. It was very different from San Fransokyo in almost every meaning; the buildings were small instead of towering and were separated from each other, had a different architecture style and therefore a different atmosphere, there were no cars or any vehicle to supply the familiar engine sounds, making everything almost uncomfortably quiet, there were no cherry trees or billboards that would give any color or variety to the look of the street, and with the absence of concrete, the earth he was walking on made him feel like he was on a school trip in High School. And the most noticeable was the absence of _technology_.

It made him feel weird.

All in all, it wasn't necessarily _bad_ per se, but he was a 'city slicker' through and through, so it was only natural that he felt like he didn't belong there and missed the qualities of a real metropolis.

What really caught his attention was the smell. While they were flying yesterday, Hiro noticed how clear was just the air wherever they flew and cherished it. Here, in the village, wherever you went you could smell the presence of smoke and ash, which raised some questions.

''Viking?" spoke up Hiro, breaking the silence.

''Hm?" replied Hiccup while turning his head and focusing on the genius.

''I'm curious, why does it smell like the village is on fire everywhere we go?" asked Hiro as he took a small sniff to emphasize his question.

Hiccup cocked his head curiously as he too started taking small sniffs from the air.

''Hm… It probably comes from the last dragon raid, though it usually disappears after two days so it's kind of weird…" trailed off Hiccup before he seemingly remembered something.

''This reminds me Spiky, what's up with dragons in the future? Are humans and dragons still at war?" asked Hiccup curiously while looking at his friend.

Hiro seemed at a loss of words of how to properly answer these questions, as Hiccup obviously loved dragons, so him knowing that in the far future things will be very different… honestly, Hiro just hoped that Hiccup won't be too shocked.

''Well… I don't know? We have no dragons there." answered Hiro nervously. He could _hear_ Hiccup's eyes widen in shock.

''W-what? What do you mean 'no dragons?'"

Hiro sighed.

''Exactly what it means. In my time, the general belief is that dragons are nothing but myths, legends, creatures from fairy tales. We don't have any dragons, they just don't exist." answered the genius.

''So that means… you have never seen a dragon before…" trailed off Hiccup slowly as he just realized what this could mean.

''Yeah, so you can imagine the shock I had when suddenly I find myself face-to-face with this big, black reptile with wings." replied Hiro with a chuckle.

''B-but… if you have never seen a dragon before, how did you befriend Toothless?" asked the viking, disbelief evident on his face.

''Eeeh… _yeah_ , about that… I may or may not have used a technique that helps us befriend dogs. Don't tell Toothless that though, he seems like a prideful dragon." admitted Hiro sheepishly. Hiccup snorted in amusement but his shock still didn't wear off.

While they were talking, Hiro failed to notice that they ended up on the edge of the village and that they were heading towards a narrow bridge that connected two cliffs, and at the other side of the cliff was this circular wooden building with a chain net on top of it. There were a bunch of baskets filled with fish next to the entrance where a pair of viking hats could be spotted, though neither boy noticed it.

''So, when I say things like Hideous Zippleback, Monstrous Nightmare and Deadly Nadder…?"

''… I would look at you like you are some kind of crazy kid. Oh wait, you are already one." replied Hiro teasingly, earning a small punch on his fore arm.

''Ha- _Ha._ Hilarious." retorted Hiccup sarcastically.

Hiro was about to retort the viking's well-deserved snarky remark, when suddenly-

''BOOYAH" – two, very familiar vikings jumped out from behind the baskets of fish, making one basket fall over and its contents spill out. Hiccup and Hiro could both care less as they could only yelp in startlement, which both were sure they wouldn't be proud of later as those yelps were quite high-pitched and girly.

Which may have been the reason why soon the twins were rolling on the ground and clucthing their stomachs in their rumbustious laughter. After realizing that it was just the twins' prank, both Hiccup and Hiro took on a blank, unamused look as they waited for the twins laughter to subdue.

And waited…

and waited…

and… waited…

_Ugh_

''Are you two done?" asked both boys simultaneously. Sharing a brief surprised glance before refocusing on the now halfway calmed vikings.

''Yeah – _Oh my Thor_ this was hilarious." exclaimed Tuffnut as he and his sister (painfully) slowly recovered.

''Totally! Hiccup was like ' _AAArgh'_ and Hero was like ' _EEEp'._ " imitated Ruffnut, making sure to use a high-pitched tone when she echoed the boys. Tuffnut seemed to find it funny enough to erupt in another fit of laughter, his sister following soon.

While the twins were being entertained, Hiro nudged Hiccup, getting the attention of the viking, and mouthed the message 'Watch this'.

Hiccup was eager to 'watch this'.

''Yes, pranking us was definitely worth the smiting you two are about to get." said Hiro in a dangerously calm voice, halting the twins laughter as they looked at him with wide, nervous eyes.

''W-wait! Hold on, didn't you say that in this body, you can't use most of your powers?" asked the male twin while he and his sister took a step back. Both couldn't deny that the emotionless face of Hiro was terrifying at the moment.

''I did. But I also said that I can leave this body any time I want, resulting in getting my powers back immediately. How fast do you think it would take me after that to reduce the both of you to dust, _hmm_?" asked Hiro while leaning forward with his hands clasped behind his back, further improving his intimidating-ness.

Now both twins looked horrified, which made Hiccup bite his lip in order to hide an amused smile or a chuckle. Boy, the twins never looked more scared before, and it was oddly entertaining to see a 14-year-old boy make them almost shake in fear.

It was just a matter of time before Hiccup lost it, resulting in Hiro losing it to. That time came when the twins tried to answer Hiro's otherwise rhetorical question at the same time. Emphasis is on 'tried' as neither seemed to be able to form coherent words, while they wore the biggest fear-filled eyes possible.

They didn't 'lose it' that much, but enough that they needed each other to hold onto to not lose their balance. After the twins overtook the initial confusion upon seeing Odin himself laugh, they wore the same annoyed expression Hiccup and Hiro wore.

''Man, never thought that one day I would be the victim of Odin's pranks." mumbled Ruffnut, a slight tone of admiration still managed to creep into her tone.

''Yeah, I imagined Loki would be the first." added Tuffnut with slow nods, though he seemed slightly impressed.

''Well, I have been around Loki enough that some of his mischief must have rubbed off me." replied Hiro with a smirk.

The twins seemed to accept his reasoning.

''Yeah, I mean, you two are blood brothers in the end." replied Tuffnut with a friendly smile on his face. Hiccup was mildly taken aback by this, the twins always wore either a bored expression or those maniac grins that just screamed bad news. He had to remind himself that the twins have shown that there was a lot more to them than what met the eye, so he really should expect more unusualities now that he is on a 'friendly' basis with them.

In the mean time, Hiro shrugged and reciprocated the smile. In his mind, he was already storing this bit of info, knowing that the more he knows of Odin, the more believable performance he could give. Though if he wanted to keep these two in the dark, he would probably need all the info about this Loki character character as well.

''So! Dragons. Any particular wish before we enter?" asked Hiccup, changing the subject.

The twins brightened at that.

''Yeah! Me and my dear sister had thought about it, and we both agreed that we would want the Zippleback." told the male twin enthusiastically, his sister nodding along.

''Wait, you mean, _just_ the Zippleback? No other dragons?" asked Hiccup in a surprised manner.

Ruffnut spoke up.

''Well, we realized that if we want to free the dragons we would get…" at that, she gave a pointed and questioning look towards Hiccup, making the boy roll his eyes and nod. ''…then it would be better if we choose only one, so no one would suspect that someone helped them escape. And since the Zippleback has two heads, we agreed on _sharing_ –'' she shivered at this word '' – the dragon." told Ruffnut, ending her explanation with a grimace.

Hiccup looked impressed.

''That's… actually smart. Two dragons missing would definitely rise suspicion, and the Zippleback can have two riders. Though I find it hard to believe that you two managed to compromise on something." noted Hiccup, getting two simultaneous groans of disgust from the twins.

Hiro kept silent and listened to the conversation with interest and amusement. Seeing the twins act like cooperating is the greatest disaster possible was quite relatable, as he it reminded himself of the times when he and Tadashi would stubbornly annoy each other, especially at times when teamwork would have been essential. A sudden wave of sadness went through him just then, but he told himself to suck it up, and with a gulp he recovered before could get really emotional. Thankfully, no one noticed.

Tuffnut sighed ruefully.

''Yeah, but sometimes, desperate times need desperate measures. Either sharing a dragon or no dragon." added the male twin, both him and his sister looking quite glum.

That is, until Ruffnut opened her mouth.

''Though it was me who proposed the idea first."

''Liar! It was me who figured it out, and you went along with it!"

''Who are you calling a liar, you dirty elf?!"

''Oh sorry, would you rather I call you a _girl?"_

And so the twins' bickering began with the usual being in the other's face and shouting at the top of their lungs while both threatening a fist fight. Hiccup had to use all his might not to bang his head on the side of the arena, though he was sure that a grimace was evident on his face while watching the twins clasp their helmets together.

That was when Hiro cleared his throat.

The effect was instantaneous. Ruffnut and Tuffnut shut up immediately and switched their focus to the boy, who were standing at the same place he was since he arrived, but now wore an unimpressed and questioning look (which Hiccup could guess was not as fake as the whole Odin story). The twins' eyes widened when they realized what they were doing in his presence, and quickly disconnected their helmets before turning to face him with nervous smiles.

''Erm… sorry Odin. We got carried away." apologized Tuffnut, anxiousness written all over his features.

Ruffnut slapped a hand before her brother's mouth.

''And by Odin, he meant Hero, _right_?" asked Ruffnut, sending a harsh glance at his brother. Said brother nodded furiously, his sister's hand still covering his mouth.

Hiro remained silent while giving them this wholly disappointed and questioning look. Seeing the twins get antsy under that gaze, Hiccup's opinion on the genius grew slightly because _Holy Hel,_ it was funny how awkward those two can be if the situation is perfect.

The next thing Hiro did was moving his gaze towards the spilled out fish, then to the gate of the arena. The twins followed him and realized what he was insinuating, so they quickly picked up one-one cod while trying not to meet Hiro's eyes. They opened the gate and hurried inside, leaving a very amused Hiro and an astonished Hiccup behind.

''Incredible... you can control the twins. I may just keep you."

Hiro snorted.

''You still haven't bought me dinner, Viking. Now come on, I want to keep making those two uncomfortable with my neutral look of displeasure.'' said Hiro with a grin as he went after the twins into the arena.

Hiccup looked after him with a flabbergasted expression.

''What's up with him and dinner?"

* * *

Inside the arena, Hiccup joined his friends soon after. The twins were in front of the Zippleback's cage, hugging and gripping their respective cod in both excitement and anxiousness. Hiro in the meantime was busy looking around in awe, but Hiccup could see that he was mentally sucking in all the details of the place. He also noticed how the genius's gaze lingered one moment longer at the visible burn and the claw marks on the walls and the floor, and how he decided to stand back and lean on the wall of the arena casually instead of being near the twins. Hiro especially looked interested in all the dragon cage doors, though the fact that he was standing behind indicated that he was, understandably, wary.

The twins' harsh whisperings and mutterings distracted Hiccup's attention from his friend.

''So, can we start?" asked Hiccup, getting the attention of everyone in the ring.

''Yeah, but one question." answered Tuffnut as he raised his arm.

''What is Gothi doing there?" continued Ruffnut while pointing at the spectator section. Hiccup looked up, and sure enough, the old lady was there. She acknowledged Hiccup with a nod and a smile.

'' _Yeaaah,_ don't worry, she is okay with the whole 'dragons are not so bad' deal." assured Hiccup with a shrug.

''Cool, but she is out of her hut at this time of the day and it is honestly strange. You invited her?" asked the female twin skeptically while not removing her gaze from the elder.

''Well, more like she invited herself, so I didn't have much of a choice but never mind about that. Let's begin, shall we?" answered Hiccup as he walked to the lever of the cage.

When he arrived, he looked back at the others to see their reactions. Tuff and Ruff were bouncing in their excitement while Hiro was giving an annoyed and murderous gaze to the viking boy, signaling that he figured out just _when_ exactly did Gothi invite herself. Hiccup sent him a wink and pulled the lever, the gate next to him openning with it.

At first, there was nothing except for low growling coming from the cage. Hiccup didn't waste time and disappeared inside the darkness. Tuffnut and Ruffnut shared a worried glance as their grip on their fish became tighter. Even Hiro felt a bit concerned, as in the end it was an untamed _dragon_ in a dark room and Hiccup went into it. Their worries ceased to exist as suddenly, the scrawny viking's form appeared. At first, it was only his back that became visible, then came his whole body, followed by his outstretched arms and then something that shocked Hiro to his core.

Initially, it looked like Hiccup was leading two dragons out of the dark as both his palms were occupied with two heads. Then came two long necks, and then the frosting of the cake: those necks unified into one, big body. Hiro couldn't believe his eyes as the clearly _one_ dragon had _two_ friggin' heads and to top it off, it looked like each head was independent. The genius had heard of cases when an animal was born with an extra head, but he dismissed them as fun facts and natures whoopsies.

But it seemed that it was an everyday thing around here as he was the only one freaking out from the clearly _two headed_ animal, who was obediently following Hiccup while the boy was backing towards the twins. Sure, the twins looked nervous, but they were like this before the dragon appeared.

Hiro remembered Hiccup telling him about other dragon species, so that raised the question: what kind of freakish and amazing traits do other dragon have? The genius realized that the possibilities were endless and suddenly Hiro wanted to know more about each individual dragon breed. He had, in the end, a pretty creative and innovative mind, and the fact that dragons could possibly have traits and qualities that would be scientifically impossible in the future was more than fascinating to the young genius. He already knew that Toothless was a Night Fury, and that this species had these blasts made of plasma instead of the clichéd fire and an impossibly streamlined body, making it the fastest dragon ever. Then there was this Zippleback who, again, had TWO heads and probably other abilities.

So yeah, Hiro soon found himself intently watching as Hiccup led the dragon in front of the awed twins. When the viking boy arrived, he took both Ruffnut's and Tuffnut's hands and put them in front of both heads. At first the dragon was cautious, but after receiving the cods and some scratches at the right places, the dragon was more curious and friendly than anything.

''Man, this is WICKED!" exclaimed suddenly Ruffnut as she hugged the head she bonded with tightly, much to the head's pleasure.

''Yeah! I mean, look at those teeth! These bad boys could do some real damage." agreed Tuff just as enthusiastically as he inspected his side of the Zippleback. Both heads seemed content with the attention they received.

''I do wonder though, which head does what…" mused Ruffnut as she disconnected the hug and looked into the her part of the dragon's eyes questioningly. Said head looked at her curiously too, before emitting a small cloud of green smoke.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Hiro saw this and decided to slowly make his way towards the group to see it from a closer view, but then he stopped when he noticed two figures entering the arena.

''It may seem Ruff, that you got the barfing one." noted Hiccup with smile. Ruffnut looked at him before refocusing on her dragon head and smiling when an idea hit her.

''That's what I'm going to call you. Barf." declared Ruffnut proudly, getting an affectionate nuzzling from the newly named Barf as a response.

''Uh uh uh! I got an idea sis'! How about I call my side Belch then? So we they will match, and we can call the whole dragon 'Double B'!" proposed Tuffnut with a huge beaming smile on his face. The head named 'Belch' looked at its human curiously.

Ruffnut looked outraged.

''No way I'm going to refer to our dragon as 'Double B' you dimwit!"

''Why not? I think they would like it, don't you two rascals?" asked Tuffnut in a cooing manner, trying to reach over to Barf's side, but Ruffnut slapped his hand away.

''HEY! Keep your dirty limb at your head's side and don't call Barf a rascal." threatened the female twins while stepping forward menacingly. Barf and Belch both were distracted by noticing two more humans closing in to care what their newfound humans were doing.

''Guys… Could you two not get into each other's hair? It wouldn't do good to turn the same dragon against itself." reasoned Hiccup pleadingly, but before anything could happen, Hiro spoke up.

''As a matter of fact, could the _three_ of you notice that we have company?"

Ruff, Tuff and Hiccup all looked at him and saw the genius watching something in the other direction with a flabbergasted face. Much to the surprise of everyone, that something was a scowling Gothi and in front of her was a very scared looking-

''Fishlegs?!" exclaimed the three young vikings in shock. Barf and Belch were already at the side of their humans and were watching the big viking boy's every move with slitted eyes. Strangely, they seemed to be ignoring Gothi.

Meanwhile, Hiro was trying to remember everything Hiccup told him about this 'Fishlegs' character back when they have met. Shy, nervous but the biggest and strongest from their age group. No passion for fighting, instead likes to read books and learn, especially about dragons. Hiro has never heard of such a contradicting person (except for Wasabi, albeit the big man wasn't shy nor a book worm), but the stuttering and nervous mess of evidence was right in front of him, trying to decide whether to look at his fellow vikings in shock or watch the Zippleback in panic. Poor guy, to top it all off, was having Gothi's wand stuck between his shoulder plates, making sure that he doesn't get any funny ideas.

Hiccup was the first one to break the shocked silence.

'' _Thor's hammer,_ Fishlegs! What are you doing here?!" asked the viking boy in an irritated manner while pinching the bridge of his nose.

''W-w-well, I- I just s-saw a dark figure walking with H-hiccup and I was just curious and…" stuttered Fishlegs, but he stopped when his eyes landed on Hiro, who had his cloak's hood down.

''Hi." waved Hiro with a grin, receiving a perplexed look.

But the twins seemed to use this thing called 'twintuition' and had a different idea than boring explanations. Soon, Hiro found two arms dragging him in front of Fishlegs, said viking boy seemed absolutely frightened of his mere presence but the genius could see a hint of curiosity here and there.

''Well, my dear Fishlegs, you are lucky that because of your nosiness, you are officially part of our little Dragon-friendly, Odin-blessed, be-awesome group!" presented Tuffnut eagerly.

Hiccup was watching the exchange in pity while Hiro was more occupied on realizing that the Tuff's voice was almost exactly like Fred's.

''D-dragon friendly?! Odin-blessed?! be-awesome g-group? I don't understand…"

Ruffnut grinned.

''The answer for your first question is at the end of our dragon." told Ruffnut while patting Barf and Belch's chest behind her. Fishlegs also noticed the dragon and started following its neck. It went above the twins and Hiro and ended up right next to him.

He would be forever embarrassed of the squeak he gave when he noticed that there were a dragon head looking at him on both sides _really closely_. Poor boy seemed frozen under the gaze of Tuffnut's head, and could feel Ruffnut's head watching the back of his head.

''He can smell fear, y'know." noted Hiccup sarcastically on the background, making Hiro snort.

''Ignore H back there, Barf and Belch is actually the coolest dragon in this world." said Tuffnut proudly getting an agreeing nod from Ruffnut.

''S-so will it eat me?" asked Fishlegs without removing his gaze from the reptilian eye looking back at him.

''Nah. _Apparently_ only the crazy dragons eat humans. The cool dragons are okay with fish." reassured Ruffnut. Fishlegs still seemed frightened, but Hiro could see a hint of determination in his face as he gulped audibly and reached forward, giving a light pet on top of Belch's head. When neither heads attacked, the boy relaxed slightly and finally smiled a bit, and much to his surprise, both heads nuzzled him back. Fishlegs didn't even try to contain a happy chuckle after that.

''It's amazing. I have so many question, I don't even know where to start and-'' but Ruffnut cut off the bigger boy's rambling.

''Yeah, no. The questions should be asked from Hiccup back here -''she pointed towards the boy in question - ''and from Odin, who for some reason wants us to call him Hero of all the things." told Ruffnut while motioning towards Hiro.

Fishleg's eyes widened as he looked at the genius.

''W-w-wait, what do you mean by Odin?!" asked Fishlegs in a high-pitched voice while absentmindedly resting his right hand on Barf's head.

A silent 'oh boy, here we go' could be heard from Hiccup's direction.

''What we mean is… Ah, whatever. Show him something cool Hero." said the male twin as he and his sister stepped back from Hiro, their dragon following them and watching the genius too.

Unbeknownst to even his viking friend, Hiro brought the backpack that contained his supersuit and hid it under the cloak as he expected the twins wanting a show sooner or later. Seeing as it was time to some of his 'godly powers', Hiro reached into his cloak and pressed the triggering button on the strap of the backpack.

When he discarded the cloak, he was already in his battlesuit.

''Well, I have never really given a proper demonstration to either of you, so might as well." said the boy offhandedly while walking towards the wall of the arena. Everyone watched him in both confusion and anticipation.

Hiro, using the fact that his back was turned, started calibrating his gauntlets and leggings. After actively continuing the superhero life, Hiro had to realize that he was the only one who didn't have any real abilities. Sure, he was technically the leader of the team and his friends couldn't emphasize enough that without him Big Hero 6 would crumple and fall, but the point still stood; he couldn't contribute to fighting in anyway.

So Hiro started working with a new-found inspiration and goal immediately. He played with the idea of many powers, ranging from super strength to reinventing the microbots and using them as his power. In the end, he actually managed to make himself not one but _two_ powers. And to top it off, he only had to make himself new gauntlets, get a pair of new leggings and to modify his sneakers.

And oh boy, was he enjoying both his powers.

So after finishing all the calibration, he continued walking calmly towards the stone wall of the arena while whistling a random tune. When he arrived at the wall, he managed to gain several surprised gasps.

His first power was nameless so far, only Fred gave ridiculous ideas for it. With the help of Honey Lemon and Gogo, Hiro managed to make a rubber-like substance whose molecules are not like any other. Upon receiving an electrical impact, the material's molecules become _extremely_ sensitive to external influences. So much so, that if the material was put on a wall in that state, it sticks _on_ the wall, which Hiro later discovered was because the material was pulled in by the almost non-existent gravitational force of _the wall,_ and ignored the earth's mightier one _._ After some 'modifications' to his battlesuit, Hiro could now send a really tiny, almost non-perceptible electric charge through his body in order to change the material's composition. If he wanted to deactivate it, he just had to send an oppositively charged impulse back.

All in all, he could basically climb any walls without any chance of falling down, so long as he was touching a surface.

So that's why instead of stopping, Hiro easily 'stepped' onto the wall without falling down. His body was soon horizontal to the ground as he kept on walking up the wall without a care on the world. He tried to hide the fact that his back and stomach muscles were screaming at him while he tried to fight the actual gravity, as while his sneakers were content with the wall, the rest of his body was still clinging to the all-so familiar pull of the ground. He soon reached the ceiling, which was basically a large chain net. The genius stepped onto one of the chains without hesitance and continued his march, now basically hanging upside down.

Even Gothi had saucers in the places of her eyes.

Hiro decided to end it on a high note, so when arriving at the middle of the net where a wooden disk was put in order to keep the structure together, he simply laid down on it with his arms folded behind his head and with the smuggest of smiles (though he tried to conceal his dizziness, being upside down for so long does have some consequences). His new position resulted in him facing the ground.

''Hi guys, it's pretty comfortable up here, anyone wanna join?" asked Hiro the group, barely containing his amusement upon seeing the open-mouthed shocks. Hiccup and Gothi were the most resigned, though both looked quite amazed.

Barf and Belch, being the curious dragon, took off and flew next to Hiro. Upon arriving, they hovered next to the boy and sniffed him from both sides, eliciting a chuckle from the boy.

''Hey there guys." greeted Hiro while scratching one of the heads (he honestly forgot which was which).

Suddenly, he had a question.

''Wait, am I supposed to use plural or singular when I talk about you? 'Cause it's not really clear." asked Hiro while cocking his head curiously.

Barf and Belch looked at him and mirrored his actions.

''Great. Now I'm talking to a dragon _and_ expecting an answer. Way to go Hamada." mumbled Hiro sarcastically.

''Hey, um, Hiro? What are you doing?" came Hiccup's voice, capture both the genius' and the dragon's attention.

''Honestly? I have no idea. I think I'm coming down though, this body needs more time to get used to this stuff." said Hiro, before realizing one crucial detail.

He had no idea how to get down.

''Well, that will be a problem.'' whispered Hiro before his eyes landed on Barf and Belch. ''Say, would it be a problem if I used you to get down?" asked the genius before groaning when he realized that he was still trying to converse with a dragon.

So without another word, he lifted his legs and pushed himself towards the reptile. He knew that in order to change the materials 'preferred' surface, he had to make contact with it. So after his soles touched the dragon's skin, he felt his whole body jumping and disconnecting from the wood, like a switch was flipped. Soon he was comfortable sitting on the back of Barf and Belch.

The dragon (dragons?) seemed to understand Hiro's intentions and started descending towards the ground. While they were doing that, Hiro sent the deactivating electric impulse, and immediately felt the earth's natural pull again. When the Bard and Belch touched the ground, he realized that the twins were actually cheering and clapping, while Fishlegs was looking at him with eyes full of wonder and disbelief.

''Y-you are really Odin?" was the first question out of the great viking boy while watching Hiro jump off the Zippleback and giving the reptile right head a pat.

''The one and only." replied Hiro with a greeting nod.

To further his point, Gothi whacked poor boy with her staff, and when Fishleg's sent him a questioning look, she imitated a bowing down motion.

Hiro had to fight an amused chuckle (contrary to the twins, who were not afraid to express their glee) when the poor boy almost panicked and fall over before he managed to kneel before him and stutter an apology. The genius sent a glance at Hiccup, who seemed to be watching him like a parent would watch their child showing off in the middle of a play ground.

''You can stand up now Fishlegs." said Hiro, while clasping his hands behind him, puffing out his chest and raising his chin in a confident manner. This 'Odin pose', as he dubbed it, started to become second nature to him by now.

Before either the twins or Fishlegs could add to the madness that this mission ended up to be in Hiccup's opinion, said viking boy spoke up.

''Now that the dragon business has been finished and the introductions has been made, I think it's time for the next step."

Too bad the Thorstons are famous for being blunt and sometimes surprisingly observant.

''On a second thought, maybe we should destroy the door."

''Yeah, if a dragon really did escape, I would expect the door to be in pieces.''

''And what about Fishlegs?"

''Fat chance that Double B would let him on his back."

''Odin's beard, we are _not_ calling our dragon Double B!"

Ignoring the emerging bickering of the twins, Hiccup stopped to think, because neither Thorston was talking rubbish; destroying the cage doors _would_ be a smart move and Barf and Belch would be definitely overladen if Fishlegs were to join them.

He was lucky that Hiro always had ideas.

''Well, if none of you mind the door being completely demolished, and if Fishlegs doesn't mind spirits either, I can manage both problems." cut in Hiro with a smirk. Tuffnut and Ruffnut mirrored him.

''You had our attention before with your wall-walking abilities, _now_ you have our interest."

And with that, Hiro pressed a button on the side of his helmet.

* * *

**_~In the mean time, in the cove._ **

Toothless was liking this creature named Baymax. Very much so.

Its hands were so soft on his scales, that he actually felt numb at some places. Its voice was so _soothing,_ like it was made for the dragon's ears. And everything that soothing voice said (even the demeaning Scaly Baby) made Toothless's opinion grow on the creature. And it had this very subtle but still audible buzz coming from its body that made the dragon relax even more.

Whatever Baymax was, Toothless wanted to get one for himself. In fact, maybe his other boy wouldn't mind if he _borrowed_ this specimen for an unspecified time. It would surely make it easier, and he could repay it with gifts and such. No one can resist the gifts of a Night Fury.

Suddenly an alien sound came from the creatures body, making Toothless jump a bit. He looked up and found Baymax looking forward, while those things that are supposed to be its eyes were doing this weird thing it always did before he told all those weird facts and words.

Then Baymax seemed to stop and look down at the dragon in its lap.

''I am sorry, but I have received a signal from Hiro that he requires my help. I must go." said Baymax, before standing up.

''Overriding Code 52 initiated. Keyword: Reconfigure." and with that, his red armor enveloped his body, wiping off his peaceful and soft look. Then the wings popped out and Baymax struck the pose he always did when he was about to take flight. It would have been the same as always, except for one important detail.

Toothless was restraining his take off by dragging him back by his mouth while whining pleadingly.

Baymax, not wanting his thrusters to burn the dragon, deactivated them quickly and looked down at the reptile with his head cocked.

''Are you in need of help?"

The dragon whined, then unraveled and flapped his wings while nodding his head towards the sky.

''I am sorry, but I cannot help you, especially in your condition. You missing left tailfin makes you unable to fly and I cannot control your mechanism."

His response was Toothless jumping into his robotic arms and looking at him pleadingly.

''Do you want me to carry you to Hiro's whereabouts?"

His response was a nod, a very human gesture as far as the robot was concerned.

''In that case, I advise you to hold onto my arms. Moving is not recommended."

And with that, the robot in a red suit launched onto the sky with a black dragon in its arms.

* * *

**_~Back in the arena_ **

After sending a signal to Baymax, Hiro watched Hiccup and the twins put a rope around Barf and Belch's necks, which would help the twins hold onto something when they took off. Fishlegs was busy marveling on the dragons anatomy, which was a great distraction for the others to put that rope in place undetected. Gothi has somehow teleported back to the spectator segment, making Hiro wonder whether the old lady really did have some kind of teleportation ability.

Soon the twins were sitting on their chosen head's neck, and they looked like they were about to burst from excitement. The dragon itself seemed happy as well, though it was funny seeing it trying to nuzzle its riders, not caring that they were still on its necks. After scolding the reptile with the help of some fish, everyone's attention was on Hiro, who were standing in front of the now closed and empty Zippleback cage.

And when Hiro heard the all too familiar sound of thrusters, he knew it was time to use his other ability. So he did a movement that looked like he was cracking his knuckles, which was actually the way he activated his gauntlets.

''Door, it's time to meet your doom." said the genius while raising his right fist. The others could witness small lightning bolts appearing around Hiro's gauntlets and forearm, right before the boy delivered a punch that shook the entire arena. And after the boy's right hook, the massive door, that once was the biggest obstacle between freedom and captivity for a lonely Zippleback, was now nothing but a huge hole in the wall and scattered piles of wooden and stone debris.

* * *


	7. A great, ugly, dragon-like monster

**Year 2032, San Fransokyo, The USA**

Ethel 'Gogo' Tomago never felt more triumphant in her whole life.

After countless months of experimenting, theory crafting, writing down statistics and rebuilding those damned tires over and over again, she finally managed to reach a speed that she could call breakneck.

And she _loved_ breakneck.

She rarely felt excited about things, but for once she let herself have the privilege. After she got off her bike, she let out victory whoop and a little dance. She wasn't worried that someone might catch her in the act as it was already nighttime, and she was the last one in the entire building. Fred and Honey has already bid their goodbyes, Hiro was currently time traveling with Baymax and as for Wasabi… well, he was such a neat freak that Gogo was sure he had some cleaning to do home.

After she finished celebrating, she looked at her electromag suspended bike and smiled softly. She had started the project right after she gained approval of the professors. Her first trials were hilariously lame, but she didn't give up. Gogo Tomago doesn't do 'give up'. And the upshot of her mantra 'Woman up' was right in front of her very eyes, shining in all her yellow glory.

She was truly happy.

After carefully putting away the bike and the tires for tomorrow, she packed her notes and tools, put on her jacket and started walking towards the exit. She had a little hop in her steps and a smile on her face the whole time. She didn't care that someone saw it either, because as it was mentioned before, no one-

Wait.

What was _Wasabi_ doing here?!

Sure enough, the big Afro-American man was currently sitting in his little corner, next to his plasma project, his face being illuminated by his laptop. She has seen Wasabi concentrating before, but the way his eyes were deeply narrowed, how he leaned towards the screen and how his jaw was set indicated that he was more than into whatever he was doing. She would have been fine with him being there, had she not been loudly celebrating before.

In a blink of an eye, the girl was in front of the big man and looked at him with the most intimidating look possible. This would usually result in Wasabi recoiling with an unmanly yelp, but now he just… sat there and ignored her.

Nobody ignores Gogo if she wants answers.

''Hey, dimwit!" hissed the Korean woman while hitting the table she was leaning on for some added emphasis.

''Yes?" asked Wasabi, still not looking up to meet her eyes. If it were every other person, Gogo would have closed the laptop in his face forcefully, not caring if his fingers got stuck, but her confusion was too great. Wasabi has never ignored her, especially if she used her no nonsense voice. He would always chicken out or something, fearing that Gogo would 'disrupt his inner and outer peace'. Seeing how the man was still indulged in the screen, Gogo decided to see what made him so distracted. She rounded the table and looked at the screen.

An old picture was illuminated on the monitor. It was a painting supposedly, though it looked so old, Gogo had doubts that it was made with normal or oil paint. On the picture, there were two figures standing next to each other while seemingly shaking hands. Both figures were thin, seemingly young and wore those old tunics and leggings, which the adrenaline junkie guessed were fashion a really long time ago. The two figures didn't seem all that special to her, though the right one looked somewhat… similar? There was also a description under the picture in italics, which read: _Hamish Haddock III seals an alliance with Odin._

This did not make him any smarter.

''Hey 'Sabi, what are you looking at?" asked Gogo in an inquisitive tone, throwing away her anger in the process. She now noticed that his friend had multiple tabs open in the browser, but she couldn't know what those pages were about as there were so many of them, only the symbols of the website were showing. From that, Gogo concluded that most of them were Wikipedia pages, though there were also some alien ones to her.

''Remember Hiro telling us about that viking island that he landed on? The one that shouldn't exist?" asked Wasabi, finally turning towards Gogo.

The girl nodded.

''Well, I did a bit of looking after as I wanted to know what we are getting into since we agreed on helping him in this whole quest of his, and I found some rather weird and interesting _things_ on the net." said the Afro-American man while slightly turning his laptop towards Gogo.

''And this is one of them?" asked the woman with a raised eyebrow.

''This is _probably_ the weirdest. The picture was found in an island of the Faroe Archipelago, north to Scotland. It is supposed to illustrate a viking heir under the name of Hamish Haddock the third making an official alliance with Odin. You know who Odin is?" asked Wasabi while pointing at the screen.

''Heard the name, not much else." shrugged Gogo nonchalantly, patiently waiting for his friend to get to the point.

''He is kinda like the boss of all the viking gods, so he is huge name even in today's Europe. Now what this picture doesn't show us is that this Hamish dude was told to be able to tame any animal possible, wolves, foxes, rabbits, boars, you name it. But there are some legends around this guy, saying that he was a Dragon whisperer, and that he always had _a specific dragon_ wherever he went."

He already got her at the dragon part, but the way he said 'a specific dragon' rang a lot of bells in her mind.

''This guy's dragon was the one Hiro met?"

''Exactly. 'A pitch black dragon that sent fear surging through the bodies of everyone' as the stories tell. Now I want you to focus on Odin, and tell me if something is off." said Wasabi while giving space for Gogo. Said woman leaned in close and inspected the figure shaking hands with Hamish. At this point, it was ridiculous how familiar he was. Jet black hair, scrawny figure and a gap in his mouth that looked so much like…

…a toothgap.

'' _Hiro?!"_ gasped Gogo taken aback, Wasabi nodding next to him with crossed arms.

''But what does Hiro has to do with some viking god?" asked the flabbergasted girl while turning to face the man next to him.

''That's what I wanted to find out. So, after I came to the same discovery, I started looking up stories of this Odin dude and found some tales where he acts very differently than in the rest. And I also noticed that in these stories he was always in a so-called 'human' disguise, which looked too much like Hiro. But the best part is this." explained Wasabi while clicking on one of the tabs, bringing out a page that had something sort of a short poem on it.

Gogo subconsciously began reading it while muttering the lines lowly.

_He, who knows much, fights much, sings much and above all, aids much_

_The all-father himself, the father of Thor and Baldr and the protector of mankind_

_He swore a blood oath to the balance of the world before Ragnarok inevitably came_

_And he made sure that when trouble arrived, he would hastily help and punish._

_He walked earth in a disguise himself, scrawny and quaint it may be_

_But never underestimate the force of wit and brain._

_Because when in battle, he would guard the innocent in all his glory_

_Bare child hands that made the most heinous demons wail_

_Bare small feet that whispered sweetly in the language of earth_

_But, perhaps, the most marvelous trait of Odin's small disguise_

_Is the burning desire in those eyes to do the right and right the wrong_

_And when the allies witness that desire, they would feel the fire._

_-Fiske Ingerman_

There was a small silence after she finished reading.

''Did that immature knucklehead seriously fool an entire culture and made them think he is a god?!" exclaimed Gogo while massaging her temple.

''I mean, are you surprised? Tadashi told us Hiro was very good at hustling and lying. And even after making peace with the loss of his brother and accepting the responsibilities of a super hero _and_ a college student, you know how the saying goes; You may take the boy out of trouble, but you can't take the trouble out of the boy… " reasoned Wasabi with a shrug, making Gogo groan in frustration as he buried her face in her palms.

''And he told us _just this morning_ that it won't change anything. He promised it, and then he goes and messes up an entire religion." sighed Gogo exasperated. ''Have you found anything else?"

''Besides the fact that apparently people _have_ noticed that 'earth Odin's' face looks a lot more Asian than expected, so thanks to Hiro, the Scandinavian countries and Japan are officially believed to have the same religion, but in different versions?" asked Wasabi sarcastically, while clicking on a tab that showed a website titled 'The Japanivanian brotherhood'.

Gogo remained silent, only shaking her head slowly.

''Remind me to shout at him when he gets back."

''Will do. But on a more serious note, there is something else.'' continued Wasabi while taking a copybook from the other side of his desk and giving it to Gogo. The adrenaline junkie took it and saw that it was titled as 'Ethel-Freyja'.

''What… is this?"

Wasabi sighed.

''Listen, Hiro is probably going to get into trouble real soon, so we should prepare for everything. I have a feeling that there was a reason why he decided to roleplay a god, so I thought… we should prepare for the same." explained the man while holding up three more copybooks. The first one was named 'Fred-Logi', the second was 'Aiko-Sjöfn'. and the last was 'Damon-Máni'.

''So, wait, you want us to join Hiro in is lying game?!" asked Gogo incredulously, the copybook still unopened in her hands.

''I don't like it either, but we both know that even your killer glares wouldn't convince the stubborn dude, so all we can do is _help_ him as much as we can."retorted Wasabi sharply, surprising Gogo in the process.

''Why are you acting so strange about this whole deal? I have never seen you so determined." asked Gogo confusedly.

''Because we all promised Tadashi that if he is not here, we would protect Hiro. And I'm not someone who goes back on their _promise."_ retorted Wasabi, looking almost angry.

Gogo did remember it. It was one of the most conflicting nights of her life. The gang has decided to go and watch a movie together that Honey Lemon insisted was a masterpiece. It wasn't bad, but it was too mushy and emotional for Gogo's taste, and severely lacked action and speed. _Unfortunately_ the movie was about a guy losing his smaller brother to a mad serial killer and going on a journey of revenge, which seemed to hit Tadashi especially hard. This resulted in the Korean woman's sappiest 5 minutes, when the older Hamada started ranting about how lost he would be without his baby brother and that he would make sure Hiro would be _extra_ safe from then on. That five minutes ended with Tadashi making all of them promise that if something happened to him, the gang would take his place and protect Hiro.

So with this reminder, Gogo looked at the copybook in her hands hesitantly, opened it slowly and looked at the first page. A black and white picture of a woman with a shield and a spear was glued on there with 'Freyja – The goddess of War' written under it.

''So… what know?" asked the woman without removing her gaze from the picture.

''These copybooks contain most of the information and stories on everyone's chosen god. I tried to choose gods that suited everyone. You got the goddess of war, Fred got the god of fire, Honey got the god of love while I got the moon god." explained Wasabi while opening his own notebook.

''Why the moon god?"

''There wasn't any deity for cleanliness, so I decided to go with the second best option. How do you think medieval vikings would react to a black guy?" asked Wasabi, his scowl and frown disappearing with the tense air.

''They would _definitely_ flip and call you the devil. But what does you being black have to do with the moon?" asked Gogo with a snort and a small smile.

''Well, the moon is up at night, and I hope that they would understand that this is why I am black."

''I certainly cannot argue with you on that point…" noted Gogo before refocusing on the notebook in her lap. ''… so, Freyja? Is she badass?"

''I dunno. It's your task to find out." retorted Wasabi with a smirk.

''Wait. You just gave us _homework_?" asked Gogo in disbelief.

''Hey, I gave myself too! It's the necessary evil. If you want to blame somebody, blame Hiro. He was the one who decided to make a breakthrough in science like it's the most casual thing to do, then mess up the time line." reflected Wasabi with his palms in front of him defensively.

Gogo let out an amused snicker before she packed her copybook too and threw the backpack over her shoulders.

''I will find a way to pin it on you, just so you know." said the girl before giving his friend a mock salute and began walking towards the exit.

Wasabi followed her with his gaze before sighing.

''What have we gotten ourselves into?"

* * *

**Year 1032, Berk, Faroe Islands**

Fishlegs didn't exactly plan his end of the day to be a life-changer in many aspects. And he especially didn't expect to to be shocked and confused by numerous sources.

The first confusion: A random cloaked figure next to Hiccup. Fishlegs wouldn't usually be nosy, but the scrawny viking boy tended to avoid everyone nowadays, so seeing him conversing with someone was weirder than usual.

The first shock and the second confusion: The twins and Hiccup. Fishlegs would have never guessed in a million years that they end up being somewhat close, but after following Hiccup and the cloaked man, he couldn't deny what his eyes saw. There was Hiccup casually conversing with the twins who wore those uncharacteristically friendly smiles and all of them seemed to be having fun. Fishlegs may have felt a pang of jealousy upon seeing Hiccup interacting with the twins in a friendly way.

The second shock: Gothi. It was a miracle to be seeing her out of her hut like this, so when the boy suddenly felt her staff hitting him and pushing into his shoulder plates, he really couldn't comprehend anything. What he _could_ do was letting that staff push him inside the arena.

The third shock and third confusion: The Zippleback. While he was being forcefully escorted, Fishlegs caught sight of Berk's Zippleback in the middle of the ring, out of its cage, _the twins literally hugging both heads_. Billions of questions went through his mind while watching how _friendly_ the dragon, who not one week before was thriving to kill every teen, was nuzzling Ruff and Tuff joyfully. The twins looked absolutely elated in the mean time, though Fishlegs could see Tuffnut hadn't forgotten to irritate his twin.

The fourth shock: The Zippleback, again. This shock was short lived and ended right after he experienced the peacefulness of the Zippleback first hand, who has been named Barf and Belch in the mean time.

The fifth shock: Odin. Fishlegs loved stories about gods, the many kind of tales and legends fascinated the burly viking. Thor was his personal favorite, but Odin was close second. So after it has been revealed and proved that the strange looking thin boy, who looked younger than him, was actually the All-father in disguise, Fishlegs got _starstruck_. He couldn't decide whether to freak out, cheer, ask questions or faint when he saw Odin laying upside down on the ceiling of the arena, then decimating the door of the Zippleback's cage to dust with one simple punch.

The sixth shock and fourth confusion: The Night Fury in the arms of a Spirit. It was unmistakable as there was only one pitch black dragon known to vikings, and seeing it being carried into the ring in the arms of a giant red spirit, with a saddle on him nonetheless… You get the idea.

Fishlegs felt his mind going overload, tiredness making itself known in his body. He wouldn't have accepted the mere presence of both creatures so easily, had he not been so physically tired from the twists that he experienced just in the last 10 minutes. So it came to a great shock _to others_ when he kept silent and somewhat calm when the Night Fury bounded over to Hiccup and Odin and started licking them, both the scrawny viking and the All-father laughing in glee.

Then when he thought that he had seen everything, this happened:

''Hello, I am Baymax."

The monotone voice from behind made him jump with a yelp and turn around. The giant red spirit was standing there and looking down at him with an unreadable expression. The fact that a several heads taller spirit was currently focusing on him in what looked like an iron armor made Fishlegs quite nervous, even though he was starting to get fatigued.

The spirit blinked at him and cocked his head.

''You seems to be distressed and your pulse has increased. Does my presence make you uncomfortable?" asked the spirit. Fishlegs couldn't help but relax. Despite the scary look, the spirit looked harmless and his voice was soothing to listen to.

''N-no. You just s-startled me. I'm okay."

Before the spirit could answer him, Fishlegs was suddenly being carried forward by his hand by Odin.

''We will have more time to get to know each other but we gotta hurry." said the All-father while he climbed at the back of the spirit. After that, he extended his gloved arm towards Fishlegs, who was looking between the appendage and Odin's face anxiously.

''Y-you want me to climb on t-too?" stuttered the bulky viking, getting a frown from the god.

''Well, if you don't want to be caught when the adults arrive, you have to. Hiccup and the twins are already out, so come on." urged Odin impatiently while motioning towards the back of the spirit. Fishlegs glanced at the exit of the arena, and he managed to catch a glimpse of the Night Fury with Hiccup on his back take off. He also saw the twins and the Zippleback being midair already while cheering loudly.

When he refocused on Odin in front of him, he gulped and hesitantly accepted the extended arm. With a little struggle, Fishlegs soon found himself clutching the shoulder of the armored spirit with all his might. Much to his surprise, the skin of the spirit felt like it was made from some kind of iron, which was the last thing Fishlegs expected.

When they took off, instead of leaving the arena first and then begin flying, the spirit extended it's arm upwards, and launched. Fishlegs wanted to scream, but it seemed that Odin knew something like this would happen, so all the sounds that would have come out of the bulky viking's mouth was silenced by a glowed arm.

Fishlegs didn't know what happened in the next 20 seconds or so, because he was busy with not opening his eyes and gripping the spirit's shoulder for his dear life. After that 20 seconds, he noticed the air blowing in his face and the whistling sound of flying in his ears. Out of curiosity, he dared taking a peek.

''WoAAAH!"

Which turned out to be a bad idea, since the moment he first saw how far the ground was, he almost lost his grip in startlement.

''Oh come on! We are not _that_ high. Just a mere 500 meters." commented Odin with a smirk.

Fishlegs looked at him like he was crazy.

''E-excuse me for my disrespectful tone, great all-father Odin, b-but we vikings are _not_ accustomed to fly '500 meters' high in the air!" shouted back the bulky viking, gripping the spirit's shoulder even more tightly.

Much to his surprise, Odin chuckled.

''I don't know, your friends seem to be doing just fine ahead of us. But worry not, our destination is close." replied the All-father with a smile.

_''W-where_ is this destination exactly?" asked Fishlegs worriedly.

The bulky viking expected an immediate answer, but the words seemed to die in Odin's throat when he noticed with the island of Berk disappearing from the view.

''That's…" started Odin with a frown ''That's a good question actually."

The spirit chose this moment to speak up.

''We are already one kilometer away from the island. Our new destination is: unknown. Hiro, my censors detect a minus 10 decibel loud, continuous sound coming from the direction we are currently heading towards. It seems to have an effect on the dragons."

Upon hearing this new information, both Fishlegs and Hiro snapped their heads towards their friends, and sure enough, it seemed that Hiccup and the twins were having problems with their respective dragons. It also looked like Toothless and the Zippleback became completely unresponsive to anything their riders were telling them.

''Baymax, catch up with them." commanded Hiro sharply. Fishlegs was too nervous to make any kind of comment, so he kept on clutching the spirit while it sped up. Before they managed to reach them, Fishlegs noticed that both dragons had slitted pupils.

''What's going on guys?" asked Hiro as he guided Baymax between Toothless and Barf and Belch.

''Nice of you to join the party." greeted Tuffnut, but sarcasm could be heard from the clearly irritated male twin, while his clearly annoyed sister just huffed. Hiro sent Hiccup a questioning glance, who sighed tiredly.

''The dragons are completely ignoring us and the twins are blaming each other for 'breaking' the dragon." informed the scrawny viking, but Hiro could see that he was tremendously worried.

''Hey! She broke Double B when she decided to kick him to 'gain some speed'." retorted Tuffnut mockingly, earning a deadly glare from Ruffnut.

''I wasn't the one poking his eye, so don't you dare blame me, you son of a rat! And what did I tell you about calling them 'Double B'!?"

''It's not like _you_ decide what he should be called. I don't remember Odin giving you any kind of privilege like this, and he won't, since he obviously likes me more." stated Tuffnut proudly while winking towards Hiro.

''Hey, dude, leave me out of this." piped in the boy from the future defensively.

''Yeah, what he said." agreed the female twin, while sending a triumphant smile towards her clone.

''Erm guys, I don't wanna intrude or anything, but-'' started Fishlegs, but was cut off by Baymax.

''Attention. My censors indicate that a total of 84 reptilian life forms has begun approaching us steadily from all sides. They seem to be following our destination too. My censors also indicate mediocre volcanic activities in the direction we are going, meaning that we are approaching a working volcano. High caution is advised."

Sure enough, numerous amounts of silhouettes that heavily resembled dragons appeared in every direction of them.

''Shoot, get down!''

After ducking and tightly hugging their respective carriers, the air became tense as some of the dragons came too close. At first it was just a Monstrous Nightmare and a Nadder from their sides, then as the fog started clearing out, they started believing Baymax's words.

There were _a lot_ of dragons.

''What's going on?" whispered Hiro as he warily eyed a bulkier dragon, who has came a little too close to their right for his liking.

''I don't know, only thing we can do is hope that our dragons snap out of whatever stance they are in." replied Hiccup in a whisper as the horde of dragons became visible.

That's when the twins noticed something.

''Is that… a yak?" asked Ruffnut while subtly pointing at the talons of a Nightmare.

''No kidding, all these dragons have something with them. Something _dead_." continued her male counter part while eyeing a group of dragons beyond the nightmare.

''It's like their hauling in their kill." added Hiccup thoughtfully.

''W-what does that make us?" asked Fishlegs, his arms shaking and his face pale.

Tuffnut snorted.

''Come on 'Legs, we have Odin in our side, nothing can happen to us." said the male twin, his voice full of confidence.

Hiro was less confident about that, so was Fishlegs, but then Baymax spoke up.

''We will protect you from any harm." said the robot in a quieter but audible voice. When Fishlegs took a deep breath and nodded, Hiro patted his beloved companion with a smile.

A cyan colored Nadder suddenly appeared and hissed at Baymax and its riders, making them jump. Hiro and Fishlegs was frozen in fear as they watched the hostile dragon begin sniffing Baymax's left arm. They expected to fight, but the brown dragon grunted, then departed from them, making both boys sigh in relief.

''What was that about?" asked Hiccup, who has been watching the events unfold.

''I haven't a clue." shrugged Hiro, Fishlegs mimicking his actions.

''Dragons and reptilians, especially snakes rely on their olfactory ability. I believe that the hostile dragon detected the toothless dragon's scent on me, which I acquired while I carried him. But that's just a hypothesis, I wouldn't advise making assumptions on it.'' supplied Baymax.

Before anybody could add something to it, the dragons suddenly started to fly downwards into the mist, Toothless, the Zippleback and Baymax following suit. The descend was so sudden, Fishlegs and the twins couldn't help but let out a startled yelp. When they evened out, it was quite dark and Hiro had an urge to turn Baymax's or his helmet's flashlight on, but he didn't know how the wild dragons would react to the sudden light, so he relented. Soon they found themselves barely above the water surface and zig-zagging between rock pillars, Baymax having some difficulty with bypassing some because of their speed.

After they got out the maze, a great, misty and dark volcano towered above them, and Hiro couldn't help but look at it in awe. It seemed that their destination was somewhere inside the volcano, as the leading dragons of the herd were pouring into the mysterious mountain.

''My censors indicate 388 new reptilian life forms in our general area. I can also detect a new form of reptile. Caution level: life threatening." supplied Baymax, making Hiro frown. Baymax has only detected Callaghan's stolen microbots 'life threatening', everything else was either 'high risk' or 'very high risk' depending on the situation.

After entering, the darkness they expected didn't last long as soon red light and hot air invaded their senses right before they did a left turn and soon they saw the inside of the volcano, that made even the twins shout their trap in anxiousness.

The inside was spacious and dark. The only light came from the so-called 'floor', which was basically a layer of thick orange mist. Amidst that mist, huge stone platforms and pillars emerged, all filled with dragons. to the brim

''If I didn't know that it was impossible to find it, I would think this is the Nest." whispered Tuffnut, his sister for once keeping silent and nodding as they watched.

''I think you might be onto something." agreed Hiccup. ''What my dad wouldn't give to find this."

In the mean time, Toothless and Barf/Belch has snapped out of their trance and were hastily searching for a place to hide their riders and themselves. It didn't take too long for them to find it, and when they did, they immediately disconnected from the herd (who in the mean time began dropping their kills into the mist), and took a sharp U-turn. They landed behind a pillar at the wall of the volcano, enough for the two dragons, the robot and the five people to hide.

Nobody dared to dismount their current companion as they watched the dragons dropping the dead animals into the mist.

''It's satisfying to know that all of our food has been dumped down a hole." noted Hiccup sarcastically without removing his gaze from the orange mist.

''Yeah, I expected something more bloody and awesome. I'm just confused now." noted Ruffnut while scratching her head.

''I think the word you are searching for, dear sister, is disappointed. I'm totally disappointed." added Tuffnut glumly.

''Why aren't they eating any of it…" mumbled Fishlegs, disbelief in his voice evident.

As the herd finished throwing their prey into the mist, two Zipplebacks and a Nightmare began hovering in one place above the pit. They didn't have anything with them, but they were growling, hissing and grunting down towards the pit. It was really weird, like they were conversing with something down there.

Whatever they said, it seemed to displease that something, and that something became a **_something_** as an earth shattering growl could be heard right before the three dragons were devoured by that **_something_** with one single bite.

It was a monster. A giant, ugly, scary, dragon-like monster, that took its human spectators aback and rendered them speechless and shocked. The only words came from Hiro:

''What Fred wouldn't give to see this…"

The monster seemed to frighten all the dragons, who after witnessing the fall of their fellow comrades, tried to back away in fear.

The five humans shared a wide eyed glance, but no words were spoken. Except for Baymax, who repeated those two damned monotone words that made Hiro's blood run cold.

''Oh no."

Their attention was drawn back to the pit where the monster's head was peeking out, but now it was sniffing the air wildly. They saw its eyes slowly turn towards them, and for a second 9 pairs of eyes locked with a 10th while time stood still. Hiro and Hiccup were the first ones to break out from the shock, and they began shouting orders to everyone. 'Everyone' was more than happy to obey, especially when the monster's eyes slitted.

If it weren't for the speed of their dragons and Baymax, and the fact that the monster's aggression scared half the nest awake which created a dense whirlwind of unbreakable reptilian wall, they would have been eaten. Fortunately, the monster couldn't catch them, and after realizing that it couldn't break through the wall of its servants, it retreated back to its pit.

* * *

The ride back, as expected, was filled with questions, babbling, arguments and such. Hiro and Hiccup decided to stay out of it, as they both had enough common sense to know that both sides of the arguments were losing. Sometimes, it was Fishlegs against the twins, sometimes it was Ruff and Fishlegs teaming up on Tuff because he said something ridiculous, and sometimes, which was the worst according to the boys listening to the argument, when all three of them were continuously raising their voices and cutting each other off. To make things worse, the dragons started to get agitated from their arguments, and the fact that they were already snappy from the events in the nest didn't help.

So after they hit the ground of the cove, Hiccup nodded to Toothless, who was more than happy to finally stop these boisterous humans with his roar.

It was super effective.

''Thank you bud. So, as we are all civilized people here, let's solve our problems in a civilized way, okay?" asked Hiccup with his hands clasped before him while looking at the three expectantly.

Fishlegs lowered his head in shame while Ruffnut was scratching her fore arm nervously. And then there was Tuffnut who huffed stubbornly while mumbling 'civilized is boring'.

''So, let's summarize it. We have just seen the leader of the dragons, who seems to be controlling them by what could be assumed is mind control. This means that in the last 300 years, dragons were just as much of victims as we were and that giant dragon is the real enemy." concluded Hiccup while sending harsh glances anyone, who were about to interrupt him. It was no time for jokes and pity arguments, they have the information to end the biggest war in viking history, and to top it off, they have their dragons' lives in their hands.

''Yeah, obviously. But what now?" cut in Tuffnut after Hiccup stopped giving him the stink-eye.

''Well, we just have to-'' began the scrawny viking, but he forgot to resume his harsh glances, which Fishlegs hurriedly used up.

''No, Hiccup, we mean tomorrow! When you and Astrid fight the Gronckle in front of the village! You-, I mean, _we_ can't kill the dragons now that we know the truth."

''Guess I just have to lose it intentionally. We have Gothi on our side, so i don't think it's a problem." shrugged Hiccup nonchalantly. For him, it was easy: lose the duel, then focus on ending the war.

''And what about Astrid and the dragons?" asked Tuffnut as he began approaching Hiccup ''If you just give up, she could kill _two_ dragons, and not all of their blood will be on her hands, no, nuh-uh good sire." by now, Tuffnut was in Hiccup's face, invading his personal space. ''It will be on yours too."

Ruffnut could be heard groaning in the background in shame.

''Erm… I guess we will stage some kind of rescue?" asked Hiccup while awkwardly bending backwards from the invading twin.

''And who do you think they would accuse?"

This voice was Hiro's. His question made everyone's head turn towards him. He, in the meantime, changed back to his still newly acquired white viking clothes, though his cloak was amiss. When he saw that there was a need for elaboration, he shrugged.

''I mean, think about it. Astrid won and she gets to kill the nightmare, which gets rescued _mysteriously_. I haven't met this girl you are talking about, only heard stories about her, but I can tell that she is the type to get mad and aggressive when she is jealous. People will ask questions, and she will be the first to point the first finger towards…" he motions towards Hiccup.''…our Hiccup here."

Everyone seemed pensive by the point Hiro was making. Toothless and Barf/Belch were nodding in agreement. They didn't fully understand humans, and probably never will, but jealousy was a thing even in the wilderness, and they could end up in territorial wars and death. If what the smallest human insinuating was true, then Hiccup could end up dead if they went with the first plan, which made Toothless side with whatever point his other human was making all the more. He didn't adopt either of his humans just to lose one so soon.

''And why wouldn't they believe her? They would probably think that Hiccup, after being an outcast for so long, finally got his recognition, just to be snatched away by this Astrid character. And since nobody knows Hiccup really, they would start thinking that the 'devil' or whatever was inside him all along, and it came out in a form of revenge against Astrid. From their perspective, it would make sense, and no offense, but you vikings seem to like easy solutions that doesn't warrant much thinking, and after you got your easy way, you go with it. This whole deal would end up in a disaster for Hiccup, the dragons in the arena, and ultimately the entire viking and dragon population."

''Y-you think it would be better if Hiccup won?" asked Fishlegs questioningly.

Hiro, after noticing Hiccup's thoughtful glance, remained silent and waited for the scrawny viking to catch up.

''No, wait, he is onto something…"

And there it was.

''If Astrid wins and we rescue the dragons, they would blame me..." began Hiccup slowly ''But if _I_ win, and _then_ the dragons get rescued, they would have no reason to think it was me…"

''And if you won the 'glory' of killing the dragon, why would _you_ help it escape?" supplied Hiro slyly, which resulted a smile slowly appearing on the now nodding Hiccup's face.

''And what about Astrid? Wouldn't they blame _her_ by that logic?" asked Ruffnut with her arms crossed.

''I mean, Astrid is pretty famous while Hiccup is…. not. She may not be suspected because of that, especially if Snotlout and the Jorgensons side with her, which is quite probable." added Fishlegs helpfully.

''Let me guess, her nickname is among something like the beauty, the bold, the courageous, Berk's pride and the fearless?" asked Hiro rhetorically, getting confident nods from all around.

''What about Gothi though? Wouldn't she see it like we did at first? In the end, she decides who wins and who not." asked Tuffnut, getting an eyeroll from his twin.

''She is probably the smartest person in the whole village, I think we can safely assume she got to the same conclusion as we did." said Ruffnut, getting an annoyed huff from Tuffnut as he turned towards her.

''Pfft, please, you don't even know what the word 'conclusion' mean."

''Errm, yes I do. A conclusion is either the end of an event, process or text, the conflict's aftermath or the entire epilogue in lyric and epic poetry or a judgement-slash-decision reached by reasoning BOOM! Do you want to know what a rhetorical question is too or do you finally shut up?" asked Ruffnut, a clear challenge in her tone.

''You shut up." grumbled Tuffnut under his nose, while his twin smiled triumphantly and began reciting the entire definition of the rhetorical question, much to the male twins annoyance.

Hiro, Fishlegs, Hiccup, the dragons and Baymax in the mean time watched the two from the side. The three boys wore flabbergasted expressions, while the robot and the dragons tilted their heads in curiosity.

''Is… this a usual occurrence? I mean, I get that they fight a lot, but… this is weird for sibling rivalry, and I know first hand what it's like." asked Hiro his just as confused companions.

''They usually fight when the other opens their mouth, but…" began Fishlegs slowly.

''…But it's a weird argument even for them." finished Hiccup without removing his gaze from the twins.

''So then, this is the plan? Hiccup wins tomorrow and then we rescue the Nightmare?" asked Fishlegs as he turned towards the two other boys.

''Pretty much." replied both Hiro and Hiccup simultaneously, surprising Fishlegs for a moment.

''I understand… and what about the Nest?"

''We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, for now, let's make sure that the Nightmare in the arena is safe." replied Hiccup seriously getting an agreeing nod from Hiro and an understanding one from Fishlegs.

''I was actually thinking about rescuing the dragons. Can't Odin just, y'know, do the same thing he did with Barf and Belch's cage?"

''That won't work. Vikings may, and I quote the world's greatest lecturer ever-''

''Love you too, Viking."

''-like easy solutions that warrant very little thinking, but they do think sometimes. And most of them know that a Nightmare and a Zippleback probably has different kind of fires, so if the two doors have the same hole in it, they would probably conclude that something is fishy." explained Hiccup, getting another understanding nod.

''By the way, you know that now you are part of this operation, and you cannot tell a single soul about this?" asked Hiro with a serious tone.

Fishlegs turned his head towards his side where Barf and Belch were currently holding their respective riders in their mouths, presumably to keep them from harming each other. Toothless somehow managed to find enough space on Baymax's right shoulder to comfortably sit on his haunches and oversee the whole commotion from there. It was a truly amusing scene, but there were several things missing: Bloodshed, aggression, malice, spite, and most of all, mindless creatures. Instead, there were care, playfulness, happiness, love and most of all, intelligence.

And the infinite amount of dragon facts that are begging to be documented.

''I promise that my lips are sealed."


	8. Like a real Mother/He tripped, Sir

**Year 2032, San Fransokyo, The USA**

''Good afternoon, Miss Cass!" greeted the beaming Honey Lemon as she stepped in front of the counter of the Lucky Cat Café.

The woman in question, Cass, was putting a recent order of donuts into a brown paper bag when she heard the all too familiar voice of one of Hiro's friends calling out to her. She turned around, and smiled back at the Latino girl before putting the last of the donuts into the bag, and with experienced moves she folded the top and gave it to the patient customer, who thanked her with a nod.

''Good afternoon to you too Honey, can I help you?" asked Cass with a cheerful smile. For some reason, she couldn't stop smiling when this particular friend of Hiro's were around.

''Actually, yes. Is Hiro home?" inquired Honey while tilting her head a bit.

''He just got home not 10 minutes ago, told me he had a really important assignment to finish. He is probably in the garage now. Do you want me to get him?" asked Cass as she subconsciously began making a cup of warm honey tea with lemon. She knew the favorite drink of every one of Hiro's friends, and Honey Lemon's was, unsurprisingly, the easiest to memorize.

''That would be appreciated. Could you tell him to come to the booth near the entrance?" asked the girl while motioning towards the place in question.

''No problem. Are the others around too?" replied Cass as she put the honey into the warm liquid and began to stir.

''No, it's just me. I've got some questions about the assignment Professor Granville gave us, and I'm hoping he could help me a little." said Honey Lemon with a smile that was visibly forced.

Thank god Aunt Cass is the most oblivious person on the planet.

''Well, my little genius sure won't turn you down if I have a say in it, god knows he needed a social life and I won't let him be stuck in the garage the whole day now that he has one." said Cass as she finished the tea and handed it to the girl, who gave an appreciating nod as she accepted and paid for it.

After watching the young student turn on her heels and start heading towards her intended destination, Cass quickly asked one of her helpers to take over the counter, put her working apron up on a hanger and entered the Hamada household.

''Hiro! You have a visitor!" shouted Cass towards the direction of the garage.

No answer came.

''Hiro! Did you hear me?"

No answer yet again, which made Cass a bit worried. It wasn't like Hiro to be so unresponsive, even if he was completely indulged in what he was doing. She decided to check on his silent nephew just to make sure nothing happened to him.

''Hiro honey, did you hear-'' began asking the middle-aged woman as she stepped into the garage, only to stop and find Hiro Hamada sound asleep with his forehead resting on his arms in front of his blank monitor.

It was so adorable, Aunt Cass had to bite down a girly squeal as she snuck towards the sleeping boy. When she arrived, she pushed away Hiro's dark, messy bangs to see a glimpse of his closed eyes.

Jesus, he looked peaceful.

Unfortunately for her, that peaceful sight was disturbed as the boy began to stir. While he was doing that, he slightly bumped into the mouse of the computer. Cass didn't think too much of the action, until the monitor suddenly came to life, signaling that Hiro didn't turn off the computer before passing out.

Now the aunt has came to a dilemma. She should ignore the contents of the screen, because either A.) it's Hiro's private things that she has no business with, no matter if she is the last living family of his or not, or B.) it was some scientific mumbo-jumbo that she wouldn't understand to begin with. So yeah, she had no reason to look at the now illuminated screen.

Yet it was _sooooo_ tempting…

So after making sure that Hiro wouldn't wake up suddenly, she leaned in and took a peek at what exactly was Hiro doing before passing out from exhaustion. And it was… was…

What the hell?

She would have expected something like the aforementioned scientific mumbo-jumbo, social media sites, freshly hacked government files, or heck, even some adult websites. But not a page full of information about Viking beliefs and mythology, or what looked like that (she wasn't sure). It was confusing honestly, as Hiro wasn't the kind of kid to be invested in religion, he even outright told her and Tadashi once when he was mere 10, that 'until there isn't solid proof that an almighty old dude with a sick beard is floating above the clouds or whatever, he wouldn't care about any religion.'

Despite that, Hiro was pretty tolerant towards religious people, the only time he had voiced any kind of opposition was when some of the more persistent and stubborn Jehova's witnesses decided that they would convert the Hamada house, even if it's the last thing they did. They gave regular visits always at the exact same part of the day. The first 6 days were quiet, considering that Tadashi and Aunt Cass alternately refused them in a polite way. Emphasis is on 'the polite way', because by the 7th day, a very angry Hiro opened the door, and before either of the witnesses could mutter a sound, the boy swiped the Bible out of their hands and with all the might a 12 year old could muster, he threw the book at one of the witness' head, knocking them out cold. Both Tadashi and Aunt Cass were needed in order to hold the raging Hiro from attacking the other witness.

So yeah, seeing evidence that his dear nephew was researching religion was a shocker for her.

She wanted to ask many questions at that moment, but considering that Hiro was already asleep, she decided that it can wait a day. Instead, she turned off the computer (yes, she was informed enough to know how) and gently picked up Hiro in bridal style.

Her legs wobbled. Not because the boy was heavy, he was quite scrawny and lacked some muscle too, so Aunt Cass could still hold him with relative ease. No, it was because the moment Cass found a comfortable hold on the boy's back, Hiro's head ended up resting on her shoulder, and still asleep, he nuzzled into her neck with a soft smile while giving out a pleased humm. To top it off, he tiredly hugged her close.

She never felt more content before.

She never felt more like a _mom_ before.

Seeing her only family, his hard-headed, stubborn, lovable nephew losing all that false bravado and 'cool' personality, looking like a bigger version of the 3-year-old himself when she first held him made her tear up. There was always a wall between them that no matter how hard Cass tried, she couldn't destroy it. Either because baby Hiro preferring his parents, then child Hiro preferring his brother, then semi-teenager Hiro closing himself down from her, she always felt like they would always be just Aunt and Nephew. But after the whole fiasco with Callaghan and Krei, that wall somehow disappeared. Hiro was much more gentle and playful with her, she was let into more aspects of his life, she became the one he first went to if he had problems or questions that couldn't be solved by science, she…

She finally felt like a mother. His mother. And seeing that peaceful face, that soft albeit sleepy smile and feeling that needy hug that just told her: _don't leave, I need you_ …

It was a miracle she didn't brake down from happiness right there. Soon, she noticed that while she was focusing on not crying and her inner turmoil, she ended up in Hiro's room. Shaking her head to clear all her thoughts, she tip-toed to his bed, making sure to look where she was stepping and laying down Hiro's sleeping form gently. It took a little nudging to disconnect the hug, but she managed it without waking the boy up. She put his blanket over him, the boy immediately snuggling into it, making Aunt Cass put her fist in her mouth just so she wouldn't coo at the sight.

Then out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a red box with a faint green light beeping at the top. She didn't need a lot of thinking to know what that box contained exactly and she suddenly had an idea. A really sudden and weird idea.

'' _Ow.''_ whispered Cass while turning towards the inflating robot.

''Hello, I am Bay-'' began the robot in a normal tone, but stopped when Cass frantically signed him to stop.

'' _Shhhh, Hiro is asleep."_ shushed the Aunt while motioning towards the sleeping figure. Baymax turned his head and blinked.

'' _I understand."_ began the robot in a much more quieter voice. '' _What seems to be the trouble?"_

_''Nothing really, I just want to know if you can record voice messages?"_ asked Aunt Cass hopefully.

'' _I can record both video and voice recordings. Tadashi has implemented them so he could record the process and the trials of my making, which he later didn't remove. What voice would you like to record?"_ asked Baymax while his belly lit up with a dim light.

'' _A message to Hiro. Could you show it to him after he wakes up?"_

_''I can do that."_ said Baymax as a red dot and the word 'rec' appeared on the upper-left side of his stomach.

Aunt Cass cleared her throat and began talking.

'' _Hey Hiro, it's me. Don't be confused, I'm only whispering because you are sleeping right next to me and I don't want you to wake up. Did you know that you are the most adorable thing in the universe when you sleep?"_ she gave a quiet chuckle at that, right before sighing. '' _So yeah. I just want to tell you that I love you so very much, and no matter what happens in the future, it will stay like that and you will always be my number one priority. In the end, we are each other's last family, so y'know, we gotta stick together. I really don't know what I would do if I lost you…''_ she had to gulp down all those emotions that suddenly wanted to burst out. '' _Did you know that yesterday, you called me mom? You may have not noticed, but I did and... and I was_ _ **so**_ _happy that you finally recognized me as someone that close to you… Ever since I first held you when you were just three, I knew that I would do everything to give you the best life possible, even if I have to sweat blood in the end. You were worth it. You were always worth it, especially now._ '' she had tears in her eyes now and her voice was rough.

'' _I guess I just want to tell you that… I will try to be the best mother figure possible, someone who is worth to keep being called your mother and that no matter what happens, what you say or… what_ _ **I**_ _say, I will always love you and you will be my son that I never had, if that is okay with you of course. I asked Baymax to play this for you after you wake up, hopefully he delivers it… so yeah, it was just something I had to get off my chest, but I didn't want to wake you up…"_ continued Cass, while she subconsciously hugged herself tightly.

'' _So that would be my message to you, I don't really know why I decided to do this in the first place, I could have just waited for tomorrow but… I guess it was easier to say this when I'm alone, which makes me kind of a coward I guess…"_ trailed of she as she turned her head to look at his beloved nephew's sleeping form.

She smiled softly while wiping off some tears from her face.

'' _This is all. Thank you Baymax."_ said Cass as she turned her face back to the robot. His belly became dark again as he tilted his head.

'' _You are welcome. You are crying, yet I can't find any injuries, nor does your neurotransmitter levels indicate sadness. I don't understand how this is possible."_ inquired the robot softly.

Aunt Cass smiled.

'' _People can cry from happiness too, or when they get really emotional."_ her answer was a blink.

'' _I will store this in my healthcare matrix, thank you for helping me expand my healthcare database."_ replied Baymax while straightening his head out.

'' _You are welcome.''_ and like a lightswitch, she remembered '' _I am satisfied with my care."_ with that, the robot stepped back into his charging station and deflated.

Aunt Cass sighed one last time, before slowly making her way towards the stairs. She looked back one more time, and after mouthing 'Good Night' began descending.

While she made her way towards the café, she couldn't help but ask herself continuously two crucial questions: 'Why did she do it?' and 'Have I left out something?'. Her main problem was that she could only answer those questions with either 'I felt like it' and 'I feel like I didn't'. She wasn't nearly satisfied with that, because her mind couldn't stop overthinking Hiro's reaction to the message. Would he be flattered?

Awkward?

Indifferent?

Would he even mention it, or pretend nothing happened?

What if she just ruined every chance that she could have a mother-son relationship?

What if Baymax forgets to deliver her message and she did it for naught?

Can robots even forget things?

She was so occupied with her thoughts, she didn't notice that not only did she arrive back at the café, she even managed to put her apron back, relieved her helper from counter-duty and was in the middle of taking the next order. Years of being in the business probably resulted in her developing this 'automatic mode'.

After writing down everything, she turned around to put together the order, when she gave out a startled yelp as Honey Lemon was standing there with a concerned look on her face.

''Oh! Sorry, you just scared me Honey." said Aunt Cass while recomposing herself and smiled at the taller woman.

''Miss Hamada, are you okay?" asked Honey in a soft and concerned voice.

''I am, completely. Why wouldn't I be?" asked the older woman curiously.

''Your eyes are red and there is dried up tears on your cheek." pointed out the science student, making Aunt Cass put a hand on her face which sure enough, was slightly wet.

''Oh!... It's nothing, I just… had an emotional moment back there, I always get those time to time, so it's nothing, really." reassured the middle-aged woman with a small chuckle, while taking a napkin from the counter and dried her eyes.

Honey seemed like she wanted to know more, but instead, she nodded with a friendly smile, dropping the subject altogether.

''What about Hiro?" Aunt Cass was confused for a moment when she realized that her initial purpose was to get his nephew out of the garage, so he could help his friend.

''Sorry, by the time I found him, he was already asleep. He had a long day behind him, so I'm really not surprised." replied the café owner.

Honey's kind smile didn't falter.

''That's okay, I can talk to him tomorrow. Thanks for trying though and for the tea too, it was delicious."

''Anytime, Honey." and with that, the tall girl has turned around, exited the space behind the counter and began making her way towards the exit.

Aunt Cass resumed her work after that. Knowing that her reputation was that the orders given to her were quite fast, she cleared all her thoughts and focused solely on the coffee and pastry.

Putting the order together, she handed it over before apologizing for the delay and accepting the payment. Thankfully, her customers are usually from the nicer of people and this particular one seemed to be one of them, so he was understanding. As the buyer sat down at a near booth, Cass leaned on the counter and sighed. It was one more hour 'till closing time, and there wasn't much more possible customers. But still, there are usually some late comers and she is determined to give them the nicest serving possible.

The bell that signaled that someone has either entered or exited rang, drawing her attention. It seemed that someone just left as nobody new was coming her way. That's when she noticed something on the table of the booth right next to the door.

A pink copybook.

She usually would have just asked one of her helpers or Hiro to snatch it quickly, so she can store it for when someone comes back for it. But she didn't remember it being here before, which means it must have been from a recent customer. She also remembered Honey Lemon sitting here and she _did_ want to study with Hiro. Poor girl must have forgotten it. So with a new goal in mind, Aunt Cass decided to get it herself as she knew Honey personally, which meant that the girl would definitely get her copybook back.

When she arrived and grabbed it, she looked at the cover for a possible name.

_Aiko – Sjöfn_

Yep, it was Honey's, or Aiko's as Aunt Cass knew it was her actual name. What caught her eye was the ' _Sjöfn'_ part, because that did not sound science-y, nor did it sound English at all thanks to the 'ö' letter. Maybe it was some kind of foreign language class? But that couldn't be possible, Honey needed help from Hiro in this 'assignment' and he didn't learn any languages in school. Cass knew, as she and Hiro prepared for the school year together, and there was not a single language class in his timetable, only science. So why would Honey need Hiro's help in a foreign language that he doesn't even learn?

Well, there was really no way to find out now, but maybe there is something inside the copybook that could give her a clue.

So with that, she opened it at the first page, and found a painted picture of a tad bit underdressed, albeit beautiful woman with flowers in her hair sitting on the body of a fallen tree with a deer as company. It was really well-painted and Aunt Cass admired it for a second before reading what was written under the picture.

_Sjöfn – goddess of Love and Affection_

Well…

There goes the theory of a foreign language class. Aunt Cass would have closed the copybook by now, but she just couldn't, because she remembered something Honey said before:

'' _I've got some questions about the assignment Professor Granville gave us, and I'm hoping he could help me a little."_

Isn't Professor Granville the headteacher of SFIT? And isn't she a science teacher? Why would she of all people give an assignment about gods…

Gods.

In a heartbeat, Aunt Cass turned a page and ran through the lines, searching for one specific information that would give her the answer she was looking for. She didn't need to search for long as the very first sentence was what she was looking for.

_In Norse mythology, Sjöfn (or Sjǫfn in Old Norse orthography) is a goddess associated with love._

Norse mythology. Wasn't Hiro in the middle of a research about the same thing? Yes, he was. Why would Professor Granville give any kind of assignment about Viking religion to her class? Cass would have kind of understood it if it were about Viking buildings and machines, so it would be something like a part of 'History of Science' class. That Hiro did have. But it was about religion, and gods, and legends and stuff.

Putting together the puzzle pieces, Aunt Cass finally came to the final, earth-shattering conclusion.

''Oh my god, they are doing a school play and Hiro didn't tell me!"

* * *

**Year 1032, Faroe Islands, Berk**

''Dude, H, if you keep pacing in a circle, you may end up summoning something." commented Tuffnut with a raised eyebrow.

''Yeah, you could summon Odin for example. I still don't understand; if the world is in such a danger, why isn't he like, here and using his awesome powers to save us and stuff?" asked Ruffnut from next to her brother as she blew a loose blonde strand from her eyes.

They were situated at the outside of the now closed gate of the Training ring, waiting for Gobber to arrive and let them in for their final test. Fishlegs, the twins and Hiccup was grouped right next to gate, while Astrid was currently warming up with her axe close to the bridge. Snotlout was there too, but he kind of decided to watch Astrid and continuously _compliment her skilled fighting moves_ (read it as: failing miserably at flirting and is at a very high chance of receiving the sharp part of Astrid's axe). Thankfully, they were far enough so they couldn't really overhear anything, especially considering that the spectator section of the arena is filled with chatting adult Vikings waiting to see the youngsters perform, further camouflaging their conversation.

Hiccup was a nervous wreck now, which as Tuffnut has pointed out, manifested in walking in a circle with a nervous face. Meanwhile the twins and Fishlegs were watching him and occasionally trying to stir up a conversation with the scrawny viking to snap out of this anxious state, without success.

Ruff's last sentence seemed to snap something in Hiccup.

''I've already told you _numerous_ amounts of times, that he had other things to attend to, but he promised to try to be here. And I'm pacing in a circle because I'm so nervous because I thought about yesterday and about what Hiro said and realized that he is completely _right,_ because if I don't win today, either the Nightmare or I will be dead, and that would lead to either the end of the world, or Toothless hating me, which is basically the same, and-''

_SLAP_

His nervous babbling and pacing altogether was interrupted when Ruffnut walked up, stopped him firmly and gave an echoing slap to his face. The slap was so loud, even Astrid and Snotlout had glanced their way, the latter giving out a mocking laugh when he noticed Hiccup's shocked and slightly red face.

''Are you done, or do you want to get another one for good measures?" asked the female twin with a questioning eyebrow while she rested her hands on her hips.

Hiccup, who has been simply looking at her shellshocked, began nodding.

''Yeah… I think it worked. Thanks Ruff." replied Hiccup, now calm. The aforementioned twin smiled back and openned her mouth to say something witty, when Tuffnut happened.

''DUDE! That looked awesome. Do it to me, too!" asked the male twin eagerly as he pointed at his cheek.

Ruffnut smiled.

''Gladly."

The next thing Hiccup and Fishlegs knew was Tuffnut laying on the ground while holding his face and groaning in pain, and Ruffnut giving a satisfied chuckle as she shook her right fist to ease the pain that came from the punch.

''Lads an' lasses, it's nae time tae beat each other senseless, that's th' dragon's job." came the jolly sound of Gobber as he limped towards the group. Astrid and Snotlout, seeing that it may be time for the final test, walked closer, but didn't join the group of four.

''I'm fineeee _eeee_. Just… I think my nose is broken." groaned Tuffnut while siting up and holding his face, wincing when he touched it.

He did not expect Gobber suddenly reaching out and forcefully putting it back with a resonating crunch, that sent a shiver of disgust down the group's spine.

While Tuffnut babied his now again straight nose, Gobber turned to the rest of teens.

''Naw 'at that's taken caur of, her' is what's gonna happen. I'm gonna heed in tae put up th' covers an' prepaur th' shields an' weapons. It wooldn't tak' a lot ay time, sae get ready coz today is whit we hud trained fur th' lest week. All ay ye will hae tae do their damnest tae shaw Elder Gothi 'at ye are th' one tae go against th' Monstroos Nightmare tomaurrow an' become an honorary vikin'. She will be watchin' yer every move, sae use everythin' ye hae learned an' make me prood." told Gobber with a serious look as he looked the group dead in the eye.

When he received understanding nods even from the pouting Tuffnut, he smiled and limped into the Arena after opening the gate. A series of cheers was given to him when the spectators noticed him entering, which dissolved into another round of chattings. After the blacksmith has given the first impression that his speech was over, Astrid walked back and resumed her last minute warming up.

What the group of four has noticed though, is that Snotlout didn't follow her, instead just watched her walk away, and when she was back from where she came from, he turned towards Hiccup.

''So here is what's the deal, dear cousin. I love you and all, especially now that you finally show some promise, but as Astrid's future boyfriend and husband, it is my job to give you a fair warning that if you don't let my girl win, there will be consequences." said as he punched his other palm, a clear gesture that those 'consequences' wouldn't be verbal.

Hiccup had to bite down a sarcastic remark of being surprised that his _dear cousin_ knew what the word 'consequence' mean. He had no time though as Snotlout suddenly began walking towards him. Hiccup tensed up and took a step back, not really expecting the 'warning' part being as painful as the 'consequences' one.

And when he did, something incredible happened.

As Snotlout was nearing Hiccup, he passed the twins and Fishlegs. Or just would have, when out of nowhere, Ruffnut's knee shot out and not-so-gently connected to his lower region, making that confident stature and menacing grin he originally had melt away in a blink of a second. It didn't end here, because as Snotlout was about to voice his pain, Tuffnut's leg also shot out, sneaked its way behind the arrogant viking and tripped him, making him fall face first into the hard ground, whimpering.

While the twins began laughing hysterically, Hiccup and Fishlegs could only watch the scene with shock. If they were honest, they _have_ expected the twins to side with Snotlout when beating Hiccup was the topic. But now, seeing the Jorgenson family's youngest groaning and whimpering on the ground, his hands not knowing whether to hold his aching face or groin area, they may be more inclined to trust the Thorstons' loyalty from then on.

''I think… Wow…" whispered the still flabbergasted Fishlegs as Tuffnut and Ruffnut began mocking Snotlout in their own way, which included stupid noises, insults and whatever they could think of.

''Yeah. Guess they really did mean it when they said they want to be my friend." mused Hiccup as a smile began forming on his face.

Fishlegs looked at him curiously.

''When did they say that?"

''Right after they stopped one of Astrid's interrogations." explained Hiccup, getting an understanding nod from the other viking. ''Now that I think about it, they really did stand up to me at that time too. Huh." added Hiccup thoughtfully. He did not notice Fishlegs adopting a guilty expression.

''About that… listen Hiccup, is it too late to say that I feel guilty about abandoning you and not standing up to you, like, ever?" asked Fishlegs, while nervously fidgeting as he waited for an answer.

Hiccup looked at him with surprise at first, then with a calculating gaze, before sighing.

''Well…'' began Hiccup as he put a reassuring hand on the bulky viking's shoulder ''I'm gonna be straight with you, it did hurt to see you turning your back on me... but if I could give a second chance to the twins, I don't see how I couldn't give you an other one, too." reassured Hiccup with a friendly smile. Fishlegs sighed in relief and smiled back.

''Oy! Whit in th' name of Odin's stinky underwear is happenin' haur?" came the booming voice of Gobber as he exited the arena and leveled a glare to the twins, who immediately stopped making Snotlout's life any more miserable, and quickly jogged next to Hiccup and Fishlegs with satisfied grins. Hiccup was about to think of a semi-decent excuse, but a sharp feminine voice was faster than him.

''He tripped, Sir."

No one noticed Astrid walking up to the group with an indifferent face, her axe attached to her back, but now the spotlight was on her.

''Tripped?" asked Gobber, not believing it for a second.

''Exactly." replied Astrid, without breaking the blacksmith's gaze.

''Ya mean tae tell me, 'at he just fell over, without anyone pushing him?" challenged Gobber with a questioning eyebrow.

''If that weren't the case, I wouldn't have said that." shot back Astrid, not fazed by this verbal challenge Gobber gave her.

''Then wa were th' Thorstons-'' began Gobber again, but stopped midsentence, like he remembered a crucial info. ''Ya know what, never mind. Is he fit fur th' test?" asked the blacksmith while looking at the still laying Snotlout.

His answer was a groan from said viking teen.

''Good enough. Naw come on, show yer tribe 'at ye haven't bin jist stealin' th' air from me in thes lest week." dismissed Gobber while helping Snotlout to his feet and began walking towards the entrance with Fishlegs and the Twins hot on his heels. Astrid began her confident march too, but Hiccup put a hand on her shoulder, stopping and making her look at him expectantly.

''Why did you cover for the twins?" asked Hiccup, receiving a questioning eyebrow. ''I mean, I know that this wasn't an earth-shattering thing, Gobber wouldn't have cared either way, so I shouldn't even care, but… it's not like you to lie and cover for others." explained Hiccup, little intimidated by the mere fact that Astrid was looking at him. Half a week ago, he would always get those hateful and jealous looks anytime she noticed Hiccup, and while now it was absent, Hiccup knew that one wrong thing leaving his mouth, and he is back to square one.

Astrid sighed and rolled her eyes and turned towards the scrawny viking.

''Two things basically. One, you were right, Gobber wouldn't make a big fuss about Snotlout being beaten, but I don't trust either the twins, Fishlegs, or _you_ to not say anything that would actually result in Gobber getting mad." explained Astrid while she swung her axe so it was resting on her shoulder. ''And two, even I'm not that lame to miss a chance to be part of messing with Snotlout, especially after a threat like that."

''W-wait, you were listening to us?"

Astrid snorted and blew some of her blonde strands from her eyes.

''I didn't, but after that whole comment about being 'my future boyfriend and husband', it was hard not to pay attention." replied Astrid, with the tiniest of smiles.

Astrid was smiling at Hiccup and have just used humor…

…

Hello to you too, Ragnarök.

''Now come on, before Gobber decides to makes us go on cleaning duty in the dragons' pit." and with that, the young shield maiden entered the ring, leaving Hiccup with a dumbfounded expression, until Gobber's shout alerted him that it was high time for him to enter too.

* * *

The whole thing went down as expected. Well, except for the fact that the twins, for once, got eliminated _after_ Snotlout, though by the way he was still limping when the Gronckle was let out, it didn't come as a surprise. Ruffnut, when asked, made sure to boast about the fact that she had 15 years of training how to effectively render any male useless for at least a day, making Tuffnut (and Snotlout) shiver from the memories. Fishlegs, as expected, got eliminated next, leaving Hiccup and Astrid to be left.

The only noticeable thing was that Astrid has seemingly changed tactics. Before, she would always move as a panther who stalked its prey, and struck when the first opportunity came. Now she seemed more calculating, analyzing the Gronckle and Hiccup, while occasionally somersaulting from cover to cover, never really charging or even attacking. It seemed that either she finally noticed that she had to be smart, or she was still determined to find out the tricks Hiccup has been supposedly using.

At one time, Hiccup and Astrid has ended up at the same cover, both panting. The Gronckle still had one shot left as the twins managed to somehow get the dragon to use an additional shot. Their eyes met for a second, before Astrid refocused on the ground and tried to catch her breath.

''What? No threat about staying out of your way?" asked Hiccup, getting really agitated and honestly scared how out of character Astrid was acting today. Where were the glares, the intimidating remarks, the badmouthings and the rest?

Much to his shock, instead of a retort, Astrid kept on looking at the ground with a guilty expression while her shoulders dropped significantly.

''I'm… I'm sorry…"

Out of all the possible replies, this was the one that Hiccup didn't expect at all. Fearless Astrid Hofferson, the one who was so hellbent that Hiccup was nothing but a cheater and that she should be the one receiving all the praise, was currently apologizing to him, and she looked like she _meant it_.

And to further the situation, she put her axe, her beloved axe that she was never seen without, right into Hiccup's palm, then recoiled from it like it was the plague. The scrawny viking couldn't stop looking between his newly acquired weapon and the girl's guilty and crestfallen face.

''Astrid, wha-''

''I don't deserve it." and without saying anything else, she gripped her shield, _just her shield_ , closer to her body and jumped to a different cover.

Hiccup didn't have time to even process the situation, as the Gronckle has noticed him and began charging. Of course, this dragon met same fate as the Nadder did days ago; neutralized by scratching at the right place. Yet the boy couldn't care less about the euphoric dragon before him, or how the spectator area had literally blown up with cheers. He could only look at Astrid's form, as she walked out from behind her cover and walked back with her head held high. Even though she still wore the pose, the face and the aura around her that made her the most promising teen on Berk, her expression was clearly one of the resigned ones. It was almost like…

…Astrid has given up.

But why? Did Hiccup's speech about her not having an ounce of respect to anyone, and that she is so full of herself that impactful? Or was it the whole 'Hiccup actually making her axe' thing? Series of possible, yet ridiculous theories has kept popping up in his mind before being dismissed immediately.

''Wait! Wait!"

Turns out, Stoick the Vast's voice is not only the perfect tool to make an entire tribe of joyous vikings shut up, but to interrupt the thoughts of someone as reliant on his thoughts as Hiccup. He turned around and looked up at his father who was busy shushing the people as Elder Gothi has stepped forward, every viking immediately settling their sights on her, Hiccup, Gobber, who was making sure that the aforementioned teen didn't try to escape and Astrid, who silently walked next to Hiccup while the boy was having his inner conflict.

''The Elder has decided."

A pin drop could be heard as people watched Gobber raise his hooked hand above Astrid's head, to which Gothi shook her head, getting a round of 'ooooh'-s. Gobber then raised his hooked hand above Hiccup's head and…

Nodded.

Hiccup's senses were very quickly invaded as the deafening cheers has returned, but now he was suddenly celebrated on the shoulders of Gobber, the twins, Fishlegs. Even Astrid was clapping with a smile on her face as she watched Hiccup being taken away, probably to the Mead Hall for a celebration.

Hiccup could only stare at nothing with wide eyes. When did exactly life turn upside down?

Oh yeah, when Spiky and his healer robot friend decided to give them a visit.

Figures.


	9. A Nightmare's Sacrifices

**Year 2032, Lucky Cat Café, San Fransokyo, USA**

''This cannot be happening."

''But it _can_ and it _does_."

''This is impossible. No way."

''It _is_ possible as it has happened, _so deal with it_."

''But I… I did _everything_ to not mess up the timeline, and you are telling me that I changed something either way?!" exclaimed Hiro, a panic-like emotion evident on his features.

Fred, Honey, Wasabi and Gogo shared a look, the latter rolling her eyes and zooming on the face of 'Odin' on the painting of Fiske Ingerman, as she once again held her phone close in front of the young genius. Said boy wanted to deny that the figure on the screen of the device beared any kind of resemblance to him, but to no avail; it was clearly him, in his white Viking clothes, shaking hands with Hiccup.

''Well, you weren't careful enough then." shrugged Gogo nonchalantly, as she sat back on her chair and pocketed her phone.

''I can't believe this…" began Hiro with downcast eyes, before realizing something."Wait, how did you guys even find it in the first place?"

The answer was pretty obvious when Honey, Gogo and Fred looked at Wasabi, who wanted nothing but to disappear when the 14-year-old's questioning gaze found him. He was pretty confident about his motives about the whole deal, and he knew that he didn't do anything wrong perse, but the boy's strict gaze made him sweat. It was a well-known fact that Wasabi was the worst at keeping secrets in the group since it was so easy to make him nervous and spill. Even Honey Lemon managed to successfully keep things from time to time, and considering how innocent she really was, it's saying something.

''You see, little man…" began the Afro-American teen sheepishly ''I was just searching around this and that about Vikings, and I _may have_ just stumbled upon that painting…"

Hiro was not satisfied.

''And may I ask, _why_ did you exactly 'search around this and that'?" his voice was sharp and suspicious. Honey and Fred looked at their friend worriedly, while Gogo raised an eyebrow on the little Hamada's tone.

''I-I just…" began Wasabi, before sighing in resignation. ''I just wanted us to be prepared for when you need our help."

''How do you know that I would need help at all? Not that I don't appreciate you guys caring, but I can handle everything just fine. You should know that." stated Hiro stubbornly as he crossed his arms. His friends' faith in him was just simply flattering.

Upon hearing Hiro's statement, Honey and Wasabi flinched slightly while Gogo not-so subtly snorted.

''We know that you are trying Hiro,'' began Honey in a soft voice ''-but we can't help worrying. If something happens to you, we wouldn't be able to help you in any way.''

''Yeah, it would totally be like a bad comic." piped up Fred for the first time, receiving questioning looks. Seeing that, he shifted in his seat and cleared his throat.

''There are bad comics and good comics. Most are good and like, mega cool, but there are bad ones too. The difference between them is the ending. The good comics have a satisfying ending where the good guys survive and win, and if they somehow die, they die a heroic death. The bad ones on the other hand… their ending is inconsistent, the main hero usually dies a meaningless death, since it is always obvious that they could have been saved in some way. It leaves the reader frustrated, since most of those bad comics _had_ potential, and their ending ruined it." explained Fred.

''Just get to the point." prompted Gogo impatiently.

''I was getting there! _''_ exclaimed Fred while sending a glare to the annoyed woman, before turning back to Hiro. ''Your story is something the big comic making companies would kill for. It has action, lovable characters, heart, tragic death, cute robots and even more action! But if you went back and fought something dangerous, like an enemy Viking army or a wild Dragon that threatens the friendly vikings, your story could end with a death that could have been avoided if you had proper backup. Us acting like powerful viking gods with you, which by the way is the highlight of _my_ _life_ , to explain our sudden appearance is just a clever addition to our master plan."

After Fred ended his lengthy and surprisingly metaphoric explanation, even Gogo looked at him in surprise. It was rare that what Fred said didn't end up with some over the top, crazy idea, and it was honestly beautiful to see the laid-back young man talk sense in his own geeky way. They would definitely savor and remember it later, when Hiro stopped being a reckless, stubborn kid.

And said kid was beginning to feel really hurt as he started to realize what was going on.

''Why is it the first thing you guys focus on is the danger?"

His response was silence and looks of worry. This was the last straw for Hiro.

''You guys seriously not trust me enough in this!?"

''Retard."

The answer made the already thick with tension air run cold as Hiro, Honey, Wasabi and Fred looked up at the unfazed Gogo in shock. Hiro because he expected denial and excuses, not an insult, and the other three, because _Holy moly, what was she doing?!_

Gogo ignored their looks, cracked her knuckles and looked Hiro straight in the eye.

''Now listen here you dimwit. I will tell you this once, so you better listen to everything I say, and listen well. We trust you with our lives, but this _debate_ or whatever this had evolved to is not about us not trusting you, it's about _you_ not trusting _us."_ told Gogo with a deadly serious voice.

''What are you-'' tried to cut in Hiro, but Ethel was just beginning.

''Remember the lunatic trapper guy? The one we couldn't find for weeks and then we got lucky enough to discover where he operates? The one with the scary old warehouse that was actually missing from every database of the city?"

Hiro could only nod. It was one of the first real mission of theirs after they began doing superhero work regularly, and it already was extremely hard. The guy was basically an art crazed psychopath, who claimed that his 'art' lied in the pain of others. He found the beauty of suffering, quote on quote: 'when the unsuspecting actor meets their fate under the glamour of the night'. This was a fancy way of saying that he trapped innocent people and watched as they suffered from its torture. To make things harder, while the guy was setting up traps all around the city, he continuously wore some kind of EMP device, making Baymax and almost all their stuff either useless or barely functioning. Their luck came when the trapper accidentally activated his own trap while he was still near, and it made the EMP stop functioning for an entire minute, which was enough for Baymax to reboot and do a scan of the culprit. After that, it was a cakewalk to find him.

''We were at the door of that warehouse, and what was the first thing you, _our team leader,_ decide on?" asked Gogo expectantly.

Hiro actually thought back. It had been a quick decision he had to make, but he remembers every detail clearly.

''To not go in because the building was unknown to us and the trapper probably rigged every corner of it." replied Hiro lowly.

''And what did we do instead? Left an anonymous tip for the FBI that one of their most searched criminal was here, which resulted in a huge raid by the authorities. Did anyone get hurt, much less die that day?"

Hiro slowly started to piece together what Gogo was getting at.

''No one."

''Exactly. No casualties at all, because _you_ decided that it wasn't worth risking our lives by going into an unknown building filled with traps. Now tell me, did any of us even remotely suggest that you decided on going to the authorities, because you couldn't trust us and our skills?"

Hiro didn't answer immediately. Instead, he looked at his friends in question who were watching the exchange quietly, praying that Gogo knows what she was doing. They actually feared the day when Hiro's natural stubborness and Ethel's spitfire personality clashed, but so far there haven't been any verbal or actual 'clashing'. Now they just had to cross their fingers that the rest of the conversation will be like this and Hiro finally understands their motives soon, before his opponent gets too annoyed.

The boy in the mean time has realized what was Gogo's point. Nobody questioned his decision or tried to interpret in a way that would have antagonized Hiro. They were all understanding and trusted the boy when he told them not to enter. In the end, Hiro's decision was the one that caught the trapper and ended the long weeks of investigating and saving people from the lunatic's trap. They even gave most of the credit to him, and genuinely congratulated him later.

With a resigned sigh, Hiro relaxed his shoulders and buried his face in his hands.

'' _No…"_

''And how is that situation any different than the current one?"

'' _It isn't…"_

After Hiro's last answer, Gogo stopped talking and watched as the young Hamada rubbed his eyes tiredly. When he finally did unbury his face and laid his hands down on the table without looking up, everyone at the table relaxed. It was one of the biggest signs that Hiro has finished arguing and finally let rationality take the wheel.

Gogo wasn't finished though, but instead of the scolding and challenging tone, she opted a much softer one that she would definitely deny it ever happened if someone mentioned it later.

''Listen Hiro…"

She certainly got the boy's (and the table's) attention once again.

''…I have never said anything like it and will probably never will, but… Fred is right. Your story has many more unfinished chapters, don't let it become a 'bad comic'. Because if it does, there won't be any frustration from the 'readers', but grief and sadness." continued Gogo, making Hiro bite his lip as he considered her words.

''Think about Aunt Cass too. She would be totally devastated if something happened to you and she would never even know where his only family has gone or what happened to him." added Wasabi helpfully, earning nods from the others.

Aunt Cass. Using her was a really dirty move from their part, but Hiro couldn't help but agree with them. In his haste to build the time machine, help Hiccup and company, and discover the past, he forgot that his aunt was in the illusion that he was hanging out with his friends. To worsen the situation, she actually looked happy when he supposedly was 'socializing' with other, good people for a change.

It was sickening.

The bot fighter Hiro would have just shrugged and said something along the lines of 'what she doesn't know won't hurt her'. But a lot of things happened since and now he understands how bad this actually sounded. Don't get him wrong, he is still the same old Hiro, but he finally got his priorities straight, and therefore he couldn't help but grimace every time he sees and hears just how happy Aunt Cass is after he tells her that he is 'hanging out' with his friends.

''I am a giant hypocrite, aren't I?" asked Hiro, finally looking up to face his friends, who were surprisingly patient with him. Said bunch of teens cracked some lopsided smile.

''That you are.''

''Everyone makes mistakes, you do too."

''We wouldn't have it any other way."

''Finally, you talk some sense."

The boy let out a chuckle while shaking his head in an amused way. He now wanted to apologize, and would have found the words and managed to actually say them, had it not been for the shrill cry that shook the entire café.

'' _ **HIRO LAURENCE HAMADA!"**_

At least the café was yet to be opened, so only the already present helpers and the five teens were scared to another dimension. Fred was so spooked, he managed to fall over with his chair. The rest of them snapped their wide-eyed look towards the door to the Hamada household. And quite a spectacle was at the door.

There was Aunt Cass, looking like she was at the edge of getting a panic attack, holding a plate of donuts in one hand, and Baymax's fluffy, flour coated hand in the other with the rest of the robot in an askew position behind, pointing out the fact that he was dragged there by force.

The teens looked at Cass, then to Baymax who tilted his head innocently.

''Hello, everyone. It seems that Aunt Cass is experiencing high blood pressure, quick breathing, and an increased heart rate. Common analysis. Diagnosis: Shock. It seems that my appearance next to the oven and the plate of donuts resulted in the symptoms. " said the robot ever so innocently.

''I didn't understand half of what he said, but he's completely right, and you, young man, have a lot of explaining to do." replied the Aunt while holding up the plate and Baymax's hand even higher.

'' **Now.** "

How could somebody sound pissed yet act very differently is a mystery to Hiro, but he has already got the 'Laurence treatment' numerous times before, and he knew that telling the entire truth is the only way to satisfy Aunt Cass. The difference now that he didn't actually do anything wrong, quite the contrary if he does says so himself.

''What? You don't like the surprise? I thought you would have liked the breakfast I made for you." asked Hiro innocently while turning his whole body towards his aunt.

''B-breakfast?! You mean, these donuts… you made them?"

''Yep, this morning actually. Woke up earlier so I was a bit tired, but I think they ended up pretty good."

'' _You_? Woke up earlier? Wait." kept asking Cass before looking back at the plate of pastry, then back to his nephew.''Since when do you know how to bake?"

Hiro snorted.

''Please, I have been watching you and 'Dashi make them for almost 15 years and you expect me not to learn any of it?'' asked the boy with a satisfied smirk as he watched Aunt Cass lower her arms while her clueless face watched her amazing nephew.

''And Baymax…?"

''Right, Baymax?" replied Hiro while looking at his robot. All eyes were on the marshmallow after that.

''I have noticed Hiro's neurotransmitter levels being extremely high while he was 'baking'. I deemed this a good way to become a better healthcare companion, so I asked Hiro for the required ingredients and decided to practice the activity for later use. I am sorry if I have caused any distress."

Bless his chips and programming.

''But… why? You only do things like this on my birthday, which is… pretty far. Is there something I'm forgetting?" there were no emotion left on her face and voice besides pure confusion. The kind of confusion where the person doesn't even want to puzzle it together anymore, they just want to finally know.

''Simple.'' shrugged Hiro nonchalantly. ''I had a great morning, Baymax gave me a wake up message that made me think of a lot of things and I decided that it was time that I gave something special to my mother."

He said the sentence so easily and so full of confidence, Cass couldn't even comprehend it. She just stood idly with the plate of donuts in her hands as she looked at her amazing nephew with a slightly agape mouth.

Hiro, seeing how much he managed to paralyze his aunt/mom, rolled his eyes, stood up and opened his arms wide.

''I suppose a 'last hug' is in order."

It is amazing how someone like her could move so fast. The donuts found themselves immediately discarded on top of the nearest surface, while Hiro found his arms full of Cass, and by the way she was trembling, an emotional one too.

He did not hesitate to reciprocate the hug.

The young Hamada heard someone unlocking their phone, and by the length of the code and the speed of the unlock, it must have been Honey Lemon. Hiro knew what was to come, but for once, he didn't care. He let her take those photos, and didn't care for the teasing he will surely get later.

''You… you got my message?" asked Aunt Cass with a barely audible voice without disconnecting the hug.

''You recorded it with Baymax and gave him specific instructions. You expected him to forget or something?" asked Hiro with a small chuckle. His voice was full of joy and something akin to love, but only Aunt Cass heard him, and she heard him well.

''Maybe?... I don't know, the big guy is still a mystery to me."

The small family of two laughed together happily as they ended the hug, though the mother of the relationship (it was still exciting to think about that) kept her hands on the other's shoulders.

''I don't know what came over me yesterday, it was just something that felt like needed to get off my chest." admitted Aunt Cass, while looking down.

Hiro shrugged.

''I can understand that. Though why you felt like I didn't view you as my mom is something I cannot. I don't remember my parents at all, and Tadashi was an overprotective brother. You were the only parent figure I really had."

''I know that… I just… I guess I always had this little doubt in the back of my head… I don't know, it feels stupid now." admitted Cass with a sigh.

'You said 'I don't know' three sentences in a row. That's quite a streak, but it shows just who has the brains in the family." retorted Hiro slyly with a wink.

At first Aunt Cass was confused by the sudden change in tone and topic, but pretty soon she noticed Hiro's eyes stealing a glance towards his right. She did too and saw the boy's friends at one of the table of the café watching them with great interest and she immediately got the unsaid message. Hiro probably wanted to do these conversations more privately, which she understood and agreed with. So she decided to play along for now.

''Well, well, well, somebody is feeling sassy this morning, are we young man?" replied Aunt Cass while putting his hands on her hips with a smirk. ''But you forget one trivial thing. You may think you got ol' Cassie here right where you want to, but it's not me who will be late for school if he doesn't start getting ready."

She was pretty confident that her retort was good enough, so she gave herself the benefit of acting triumphant. She did not expect Hiro's friends to back the boy up.

''Um, sorry Miss Hamada, but he got you there too." spoke up Fred.

''Yeah, Ms. Granville instructed us not to come to our first lesson, said she had a huge meeting to attend to with the rest of the professors. It probably has to do with the school's 30th anniversary." added Honey Lemon with a giggle.

Cass looked back at his now smug nephew who was now holding his unlocked phone in front of him.

''Nice try, but I think the café should have been opened for 10 minutes now."

Aunt Cass' face fell as she looked Hiro's phone, currently reading 8:10.

The next moments were quite hectic for the café. The frantic owner has probably did the chores that were required before opening (dusting the tables, putting down the chairs, readying the ovens and other machines, etc.) in a mere ten minutes. Note that this was a third of the usual time. Her helpers, seeing that the touching moment has ended, began doing their best to help, but they, along with Hiro and friends, could only watch dumbfounded as the forty-something-years old woman was rampaging through the tables and chairs with a cleaning cloth in one hand, the other having a sprayer in it, while she was in the middle of chewing one of Hiro's donuts.

After releasing her cleansing frenzy on the café all by herself, the panting Aunt Cass walked back to Hiro and gave him the empty plate.

''Sweetie... would you be so kind and… wash this quickly?... The donuts were good by the way… good job with them." and like nothing happened, she hugged his stunned nephew and began welcoming her first customers.

As Hiro sat back (with the plate in his hands) he met the eyes of his friends, who were watching him with a series of emotions; confusion, surprise, amusement.

''Sooooo, Laurence? _That's_ your middle name?" asked Gogo with an entertained smile, making Hiro groan.

''With everything going on, you still remembered that one?" asked the clearly embarrassed genius.

''Oh don't worry,'' began Honey with a giggle '' we will ask you about rest too, but we like to go in order of the events."

''We are also pretty perspective, you should know that." added Wasabi with an amused smile, Fred nodding vigorously next to him.

Hiro just rolled his eyes. Once again, his friends were right, he _really_ should stop underestimating their attention span, and them altogether.

'' _Soooo…?"_ prompted Gogo, not letting the matter go.

The boy sighed. ''I don't have a middle name, but Aunt Cass has a small system whenever she sees something shocking and thinks I did it. If Laurence, then I get to explain it and she gets to decide the next course of action, if Daniel, then she jumps over the explaining part, gives me a scolding and a punishment." told Hiro before snorting and opting a content smile ''Actually, one of the biggest debates among the café's regular customers is basically whether my middle name is Laurence or Daniel and there is even a small bet going on."

''No way dude."

''It's true. For example Mrs. Matsuda, the old lady with the weird clothes, has a thousand dollars already on the Daniel side, saying that 'she feels it in her belly'." continued Hiro, making his friends laugh a little.

''That's so cool. When do you plan on telling them that neither side is right and the whole bet is a waste?" asked Fred while whispering as the first customers has arrived.

''Never. Even Aunt Cass agrees that this whole debate is funny, and as long as it's among the customers, she would play along."

The table began laughing, and after that, they spent the rest of their free time talking about a variety of topics, as Hiro felt like that the focus was on him for a long time.

Baymax in the mean time was preparing his donuts (the first ones he made!) to the oven, but he stopped and looked towards the door that separated the kitchen and the café. He immediately did a quick scan on his present patience and noticed the unusually high levels of neurotransmitter levels.

It seems that the Donut-treatment was already producing high numbers of success.

* * *

**Year 1032, Faroe Islands, Berk**

It was night time, and the village of Berk was silent. Don't be fooled, nobody was sleeping. Instead, they were all in the Mead Hall, celebrating the success of Hiccup for winning Dragon Training. All around jolly faces could be seen, some of them are a little pink from the mead already. Music could be heard too, which just barely was louder the sound of chatter.

But, as we are talking about partying Vikings, nobody has actually noticed the celebrated Hiccup Haddock missing. Thanks to that, Hiccup, Tuffnut, Ruffnut and Fishlegs has already managed to sneak away, Barf and Belch silently circling above the village.

''Will Odin come?" asked Tuffnut excitedly as they neared the gates to the Training Arena. Hiccup rolled his eyes and exhaled.

''Yes, Tuff, him and Baymax will both come tonight."

''I'm a little worried though." piped up Fishlegs ''What if someone notices we are missing?"

Ruffnut scoffed

''If you asked anybody, they would either say that the last time they saw us was when Stoick gave a speech to the whole village. The others wouldn't even answer you, they were only here for the drinks."

''Praise it, sister." agreed Tuffnut, sharing a high-five with his sister.

''Okay, listen everybody." said Hiccup after noticing a distant red dot appearing in the sky and gradually gaining size ''Ruff, Tuff, your job is to wait with your dragon-''

''DragonS! No way I'm sharing my dear Belch with _this_ witch." butted in Tuffnut, crossing his arms stubbornly and turning away from his sister.

'' _UGH_ , that's why mom doesn't love you!"

''GUYS! Guys…" cut in the irritated Hiccup before Tuffnut could jump at his sister.''Let's keep the sibling rivalry to a minimum, okay?"

His answer was two displeased grunts, but nevertheless nods.

''So. As I said, you two will be circling the Arena with your Zippleback. You guys will guide us and the Nightmare to the cove, got it?"

''Booooring… but sure."

''Great. Fishlegs, you will watch the bridge and alert us if somebody is nearing. If you can, hold them up while Ruff and Tuff relocates to the other side of the Arena. Understood?" Fishlegs fidgeted nervously, many doubts filling his head, but eventually nodded.

The sound of thrusters could be heard as Hiro and Baymax descending.

''Viking, you left us for last? I feel the love." snarked Hiro while jumping off Baymax, but keeping on his purple battle suit. Barf and Belch landed and galloped to the twins to greet them.

Hiccup's just as snarky remark died in his throat as he saw who exactly was in Baymax's arms.

''What is Toothless doing here?!" exclaimed Hiccup in shock, but he nonetheless made sure to welcome his dragon friend.

''Choose one; Either your dragon managed to kidnap himself or he hijacked my rob- _spirit_ for a ride." replied Hiro, quickly correcting himself. He almost forgot to get into his character.

''Couldn't you, I don't know, _put him back?!"_

''Well, you wanted us to hurry. And if Toothless is anything like you, convincing him would have taken too much time. Plus,'' Hiro shrugged in nonchalance ''now we have our solution for blasting the door in."

The genius didn't miss Toothless sending him and unamused glare before turning back to greeting Hiccup. Said viking boy just sighed, patted Toothless on the nose and shook his head.

''I guess you are right."

With that, everyone moved into positions. The twins kept a relative altitude, low enough so if somebody explicitly was searching for them, they would be found, but not too low. Hiro, Baymax, Toothless and Hiccup entered the Arena and bolted towards the cage of the Nightmare. Fishlegs laid on the inclination that led to the gate, a perfect place to see if somebody was nearing the bridge.

Everything seemed perfect, though while they took their positions, no one has noticed a small giggling Viking sprinting away.

Hiro was a combination of anxious and excited. Excited, because he could see his third species of dragon. He knew he could have seen much more when they were with that monster in the Volcano, but he was too occupied with monster itself, so whenever he tried to remember any species, only images of the monster did he remember. He could faintly recall a cyan colored dragon that almost attacked them at the beginning. Sadly, only slitted pupils and the color was clear to him, not much else. Maybe some bird-like features too, but that's far-stretch.

He was anxious too, because even though a new species of dragon, it _was_ called Monstrous Nightmare, and it did not sound peachy at all. He kept imagining scarier and scarier dragons in his mind that could warrant such a name, but he dismissed them. He would see it soon enough.

Baymax, being the only one who can actually move the lever, opened the gate and much to Hiro's disappointment, nothing happened. They did hear some light growling and breathing, meaning that the Nightmare was asleep.

Hiccup sighed and began marching into the cage, Toothless hot on his heels. Hiro could only look after him, his anxiousness growing every second. With the exception of Toothless' tail, they disappeared into the dark. The genius could only hear louder growls, coos and hushed whispers from then on. Hiro sent a glance towards Baymax, who were also looking into the darkness. The boy picked up on a slight electric buzz, meaning that the robot is using his censors, probably making sure that Hiccup and Toothless are okay, and probably scanning the Nightmare too.

Then he notices Toothless' tail, the only thing ensuring him that nothing was wrong, disappearing into the darkness. Had it not been for the fact that Baymax was still unmoving, Hiro would have asked if they were okay.

Suddenly, the sound of claws scraping on solid stone could be heard coming closer to Hiro, and he couldn't help but tense up. The first thing he sees is Hiccup's back being illuminated by the light of the moon, the only possible light source. The thought of turning his headlights on crossed his mind, but once again, he doesn't want to spook a dragon named _Nightmare_.

The full figure of Hiccup and half of Toothless appear at once and then…

Oh god.

Okay, so it wasn't as _monstrous_ as he imagined but a nightmare surely it is. Twice as big as Baxmax itself, armed with teeth and spikes, the angry red colored dragon was a sight to behold. The main thing Hiro focused were those _eyes_. They were bean shaped and looked so _unnatural_ on such a mighty beast, but it sure as hell helped Hiro be more uncomfortable. He also noticed the wings being attached to the dragon's arms, the first one as neither the Zippleback or the Night Fury had their wings connected to their forelegs.

Back to those eyes, they were focused on Hiccup's hand, which was dangerously close to the dragon's mouth and pretty pointy teeth. It stiffened the moment it noticed Hiro and began growling in his direction.

''Easy…" whispered Hiccup, Toothless giving out a small purr to ease the Nightmare. Said dragon looked at the Night Fury, almost like making sure that the fellow reptile was sure the new human was safe, then huffed and continued focusing on Hiccup's hand.

''There we go…"

''You know Viking, I will give you that, you were right about the fact that I would be surprised by the sheer amount of diversity between the species."

Hiccup snorted.

''After seeing a Night Fury and a Zippleback, I would have thought you already got the idea, Spiky. Maybe you should listen to me more?" Hiccup offered playfully while giving a light scratch to the Nightmare.

Hiro pretended to dwell on that before simply giving a 'Nah' as an answer before taking up a pensive face and looking at the dragon

''Can I?"

Hiccup looked at his friend and saw him motioning towards the content Nightmare.

''Suit yourself. Though maybe lose the gauntlet first." advised the scrawny viking.

Hiro removed his right 'gauntlet' and slowly, hesitantly approached the Nightmare with his now bare hand. The dragon followed his every movement, but didn't make a move. And when the boys hand finally touched the scaly skin, the dragon closed his eyes and purred, much to Hiro's delight.

''Ha, I'm starting to get the hang of this dragon taming thing." he then opted a smirk and glanced at Hiccup. ''I may be already better than you." his answer was a roll of eyes.

The moment was broken when suddenly the Nightmare's head snapped sideways and began growling loudly. Hiro quickly retracted his hand and held it to his chest in fright as him and Hiccup tried to search for the source of the dragon's sudden anger. And lo and behold, there was Toothless and Baymax next to a small pile of cod and a fallen over bucket, the dragon having half of a fish hanging out of his mouth while the robot was already holding out a second one.

''Oh, nononononono, bad Toothless, that's the Nightmare's food!'' the panicking Hiccup said, knowing from experience just how territorial dragons could be with their food.

Toothless sadly crooned, and dropped the fish.

''The toothless dragon's stomach is already producing hunger pangs and his blood sugar levels are low.'' piped up Baymax, fish still in hand. ''It would be advisable for him to eat one-eighth of his body weight in order to keep up with the loss of fat his body burns in a day with an average of 5 hours of flying."

Hiccup was looking at Hiro for translation, who just sighed while subconsciously stroking the agitated Nightmare next to him.

''Toothless is hungry."

Hiccup's eyebrows rose back and saw Toothless giving him the most adorable pleading look ever. He slightly frowned again, trying to make sense of the sudden problem.

Then it clicked.

'' _Oh, Thor._ I forgot to give him his daily basket of fish, I was so occupied with winning Dragon training…" he sighed in a disappointed manner ''I'm sorry bud, I promise I'll give you all the fish you want, okay?"

Toothless' face brightened significantly and stepped back, the Nightmare stepping up without taking his eyes off the smaller dragon and began eating.

''Though I wonder, what is a random bucket of fish doing there? They look fresh too." asked Hiro while looking at Hiccup's face.

''Well, we have to keep the captured dragons alive, for training reasons. This was probably the NIghtmare's night snack." concluded Hiccup, while watching the still fallen over bucket in deep thought.

''But I thought everyone was in that Hall building, weren't they?"

Hiccup stopped, and realized what Hiro was getting at.

''I… I thought so too. They usually don't feed the dragons before the final test, make them weaker and all…"

''Considering how hyped up your 'twig turned dragon master' story was, I wouldn't be surprised if they broke traditions, just to make it a little harder. Heck, from how you described your father, I wouldn't be surprised if he gave the order, trusting in your skills and all." noted the the black haired teen and Hiccup was about to give an agreeing answer, before a whisper shout from the entrance of the Arena stole their attention.

'' _Hiccup!"_

Five pairs of eyes snapped towards the pale looking Fishlegs, who opened his mouth to say something, but closed as his wide eyes found the currently very intimidating and very free Nightmare. Said dragon also stopped eating and looked at the new human with slitted pupils, before both Hiccup and Hiro put a soothing hand on its snout.

''It's okay Fishlegs. Somebody's coming?" asked Hiccup, a feeling of dread making its way to his gut.

'' _Exactly!"_ Fishlegs whispered. ''A group of adults are here and oh Thor, Hiccup, it's really bad!"

The two scrawny boys shared a scared glance, already discarding the possibility of a normal operation and thinking about their secondary exit.

''That many?"

''Yes… and your dad is leading it." whimpered Fishlegs when the battlecry of a dozen of Vikings from outside the arena could be heard. There was one voice, that made Hiccup's blood freeze.

'' _SURROUND THEM!_ Don't let the dragon thieves or the dragons escape."

Fishlegs, hearing the intimidating voice of Stoick the Vast, jumped behind a wooden plank that was used for the covers when Hiccup won Dragon Training, effectively getting out of sight.

''And he doesn't look happy." Hiro continued with wide eyes, seeing the Vikings pouring into the spectator section from all sides, many kind of weapons in their hands.

The two boys immidiately went to work. Hiccup told Toothless to blast the ceiling of the Arena. The only problem was that the Night Fury was ignoring the boy's commands or desperate cries as he was already in a defensive position before Hiccup, shielding the boy and growled towards the incoming Vikings warnings.

Hiro saw the trouble they were having, and did not hesitate to act.

''Baymax, rocket fist!" shouted the boy while pointing at the chain curtain that represented the ceiling of the Arena. The robot took up a pose and did so, his flying fist effectivelly breaking through one intersection where 3 chains met, making a giant hole that the Nightmare did not hesitate to escape through.

Seeing as their objective has been reached both boys began making their way to their respective companions. It was high time, as the first Vikings began jumping down from the spectator section and into the rink. Hiccup and Toothless were the first to take off, making Hiro sigh in relief.

He was about to step up to his already ready friend's back, when came the unthinkable.

As Hiccup and Toothless were about to get through the Baymax generated hole, the sound of something being thrown was heard, then the sound of something flying in a rapid speed. The series sounds ended with a loud whip followed by the surprised cry of a Night Fury and the scream of Hiccup. When Hiro looked up, he saw the dragon and the boy free falling towards the ground, a bola wrapped around them.

Hiro was hyperventilating now but he had to make a quick decision. He knew that mere bolas couldn't get Baymax out of the air, but that did not imply to him. If he got caught mid air, he would definitely get hurt, maybe even die if the fall was high enough. The smiling picture of Aunt Cass flashed before his eyes, and he already knew that he couldn't risk it. He really only had one last choice.

He sent a silent thanks to friends for convincing him to prepare for the worst.

''Baymax, go without me."

The robot's head rapidly turned to Hiro and he dropped the 'ready-for-taking-off' pose.

''I cannot do that, you are in great danger.''

Hiro knew that his loyal friend would oppose, so he sighed and took his helmet off, then gave it to Baymax, who looked at his newly acquired equipment with a tilted head.

''What should I-'' he was cut off when Hiro opened his chip port where a green, a red and a blue chip was already occupying 3 out of 4 places, then jammed an orange one to the last port and closed it with his fist.

Baymax remained silent and straightened out, his eyes focusing at nothing.

''I am satisfied with my care." said Hiro, his sentence ending with a choke as he was on the verge of tears

The robot immediately shot up into the air. Bolas hit him, but as expected, they did nothing.

The last thing Hiro saw was a pleading and struggling Hiccup getting dragged out of the Arena by a giant, red bearded man and Toothless having multiple Vikings pining him down to the ground.

Then he felt a sharp pain at the back of the head, then nothingness.

* * *

**Year 2032, San Fransokyo, USA**

It was also night time in San Fransokyo, the building of SFIT being illuminated as students of all kinds were leaving and entering the building. Inside the lab were only a handful of people, one of them being Honey Lemon who was currently hunched over her chemistry table, reading the little note book Wasabi gave him with a huge smile on her face.

She loved stories of all kind, and reading all these Nordic legends made Honey ecstatic. To top it off, she was reading about a god that she would have to pretend, just like in a Theatre play. The only difference is that she would play to lie to others, which didn't make her feel all that good, but she soothed herself that she is lying for Hiro's safety, so it would be all good in the end.

Right?

Her guilt was also suppressed by the fact that she had to play the god of Love, which made her shake in excitement. It was so fitting to her, and by the stories she is reading about Sjöfn, she could relate to her pretty hard. Her mind was also thinking about asking Hiro to modify her current hero outfit, maybe so it would look more Viking goddess like, so she could reach her ultimate goal; being trendy and pretty while looking badass and cool at the same time. Just thinking about all these possibilities made her giggle and wish Hiro was here.

Like magic, the sound electricity from her right was heard and she gave out a little squeak in startlement. She looked at the source and saw a turquoise circle enlargening on the floor. She knew that this meant that Hiro and Baymax were coming back as only a mere hour before she witnessed them going back in time. It was her lab in the end, though why Hiro insisted so much to begin time traveling from her lab was baffling. What was also baffling was the question as to why they came back so soon.

She turned towards the circle and watched as an unarmored Baymax flew out of it and landed on the floor. It was kinda funny how the robot summersaulted in the air, but Honey was too occupied with on little problem;

The circle was shrinking, yet Hiro didn't come back.

Her attention was drawn back as Baymax stood up and began making his way towards Honey.

''Baymax, where is Hiro?" she asked worriedly as the circle disappeared, only leaving Hiro's time traveling machine on the ground.

The robot kept silent as he gave something to Honey, something purple. It did not take her much to realize that Hiro's helmet was in her hands.

She gulped.

''B-Baymax…?" she asked, taking her eyes off the helmet. She saw the robot already deflating in his power station that Hiro didn't bring to the past, claiming that Baymax was fully charged and they would go for a short time either way.

A chill went through her spine when she realized what this meant and did a mad dash towards Gogo's section of the lab, as the her friend was doing some last minute preparations on her bike and was still present.

'' _GOGO!"_ shrieked the panting Honey Lemon as she arrived at the Korean girl's workstation.

''What?!" snapped back Gogo, trying to recover from the scare she was given to. Some day, she will get a heart attack from the other girl's sudden raise of voice.

Her eyes were soon fixated on the item Honey has in her hands and the feeling of dread creeped up her spine.

''Baymax came back, but no Hiro?" she guessed bluntly, already having her phone in her hand as Honey was nodding vehemently.

''I get Wasabi, you get Fred." said Gogo and putting her yellow backpack on her back, that contained her supersuit.


End file.
